Dilemma



GRE 蓝宝 Barron TOEFL 考研

解释

GRE 红宝书

• n.困境, 左右为难
• ［英］ n.困境, 左右为难 ( any situation between unpleasant alternatives; predicament)
• ［记］ 可能来自lemma ( 定理、标题) , 无标题 -> 困境
• ［同］ 同根词:impasse ( 僵局) ; predicament ( 困境)

Webster Collegiate

noun

• Etymology: Late Latin, from Late Greek dilēmmat-, dilēmma, probably back-formation from Greek dilēmmatos involving two assumptions, from di- + lēmmat-, lēmma assumption — more at lemma
• Date: 1523
• 1. an argument presenting two or more equally conclusive alternatives against an opponent
• 2.
  • a. a usually undesirable or unpleasant choice <faces this dilemma: raise interest rates and slow the economy or lower them and risk serious inflation>
  • b. a situation involving such a choice <here am I brought to a very pretty dilemma; I must commit murder or commit matrimony — George Farquhar>; broadly predicament <lords and bailiffs were in a terrible dilemma — G. M. Trevelyan>
• 3.
  • a. a problem involving a difficult choice <the dilemma of “liberty versus order” — J. M. Burns>
  • b. a difficult or persistent problem <unemployment…the great central dilemma of our advancing technology — August Heckscher>
• ? dilemmatic adjective
• Usage:
  • Although some commentators insist that dilemma be restricted to instances in which the alternatives to be chosen are equally unsatisfactory, their concern is misplaced; the unsatisfactoriness of the options is usually a matter of how the author presents them. What is distressing or painful about a dilemma is having to make a choice one does not want to make. The use of such adjectives as terrible, painful, and irreconcilable suggests that dilemma is losing some of its unpleasant force. There also seems to be a tendency especially in sense 3b toward applying the word to less weighty problems <solved their goaltending dilemma — Pat Calabria>.

---