quandary
quan·dary
noun
a situation from which extrication is difficult especially an unpleasant or trying one
- “finds himself in a most awkward predicament”
- “the woeful plight of homeless people”
state of uncertainty or perplexity especially as requiring a choice between equally unfavorable options
Origin
16th century. Origin unknown; perhaps a dialectal corruption (simulating a word of Latin origin with suffix -ary) of wandreth (“evil, plight, peril, adversity, difficulty”), from Middle English wandreth, from Old Norse vandræði (“difficulty, trouble”), from vándr (“difficult, requiring pains and care”).
Related words
Broader terms
Narrower terms
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.