英和和英

発音

• enPR: dī-lĕmʹə or dĭ-lĕmʹə
  • (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA: /daɪˈlɛmə/, /dɪˈlɛmə/
  • (General Australian) IPA: /dɑeˈlemə/, /dɪˈlemə/
  • (New Zealand) IPA: /daɪˈlemə/, /dəˈlemə/
• 韻: -ɛmə

名詞

dilemma (plural dilemmas or dilemmata)

1. A circumstance in which a choice must be made between two or more alternatives that seem equally undesirable.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:dilemma

   • 1731, Jonathan Swift, An Epistle to Mr. Gay:

     A strong dilemma in a desperate case! / To act with infamy, or quit the place.

2. Any difficult circumstance or problem.

   Synonyms: bind, fix, pickle, problem, quandary; see also Thesaurus:difficult situation

3. (logic) A type of syllogism of the form "if A is true then B is true; if C is true then D is true; either A or C is true; therefore either B or D is true".
4. (rhetoric) Offering to an opponent a choice between two (equally unfavorable) alternatives.

使用する際の注意点

• Usage: Many people proscribe sense 2, wanting the word to be reserved to sense 1. Many others either do not know about that prescription or know but refuse to abide by it.
• Spelling: Occasionally misspelled as dilemna, perhaps originally via false analogy with words such as condemn, solemn, and hymn. This spelling has been reportedly taught in many regions of Great Britain and the United States as well as around the world, and can be found in the works of many well-known authors (e.g. Isaac Watts, Defoe & Goldsmith).

派生語

関連する語

• lemma
• trilemma
• tetralemma
• pentalemma
• polylemma

参考

• between a rock and a hard place
• between the devil and the deep blue sea
• between Scylla and Charybdis
• Buridan's ass
• catch-22
• damned if one does and damned if one doesn't
• doomed if you do, doomed if you don't
• predicament

参照

Further reading

• dilemma on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Gideon O. Burton (26 February 2007), “dilemma”, in Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric‎.

アナグラム

• midmeal

名詞

dilēmma n (genitive dilēmmatis); third declension

1. conclusion from two premises
2. dilemma

語形変化

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

関連する語

• dilēmmātus

派生した語

• Catalan: dilema
• French: dilemme
• Italian: dilemma
• Portuguese: dilema
• Romanian: dilemă
• Spanish: dilema

参照

• “dĭlēmma”, in Gaffiot, 2016.