Dilemma

How to spell dilemma

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce dilemma

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does dilemma mean?

1. nounA situation in which a difficult choice must be made between two or more undesirable options.

Dilemma in a sentence

• The manager faced a real dilemma when both candidates proved equally qualified.

• Accepting the job abroad meant leaving her family, a painful dilemma.

Where does dilemma come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word comes from the Greek dilemma, built from di- meaning 'two' and lemma meaning 'a premise' or 'something taken for granted', from the verb lambanein 'to take'. In ancient rhetoric and logic a dilemma was a form of argument that offered an opponent two premises, both of which led to an unwelcome conclusion, so that whichever option was chosen the result was bad. The term passed into Late Latin and entered English in the early 1500s, at first as a precise term of formal argument. Over time the technical sense softened into the everyday meaning of any difficult choice between two unattractive options. A useful spelling hint sits in the origin: the single 'l' followed by a doubled 'm' reflects the Greek lemma, not a doubled 'l', which is the trap that catches many adult writers.

How the word is built

• di- (two)
• lemma (premise, proposition taken)