dilemma
- A situation in which someone must choose between two or more options that are equally difficult, unpleasant, or problematic.
In a sentence
- She faced a dilemma: accept the promotion and relocate, or stay close to her family and miss the opportunity.
- The ethical dilemma of prioritizing one patient over another is familiar to emergency room doctors.
Usage note. Traditionalists restrict 'dilemma' to choices between exactly two bad options, but in modern usage it commonly refers to any difficult decision; in formal writing, acknowledge the two-option origin if precision is needed.
Where it comes from
English dilemma · entered English 16th c.
From Greek 'dilemma', meaning 'a double proposition', composed of 'di-' (double) + 'lemma' (premise or assumption). It entered English via Late Latin in the 16th century, originally as a rhetorical and logical term for an argument that forces an opponent into two equally unfavorable positions, before broadening to its everyday sense.