{
    "term": "dilemma",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "c1",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "a situation that makes problems, often one in which you have to make a very difficult choice between things of equal importance",
            "sensetop": "in a dilemmadilemma about/over somethingdilemma between A and B",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "I could see no way of resolving this moral dilemma."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The digital era brings new ethical dilemmas for journalists."
                },
                {
                    "text": "They were caught in a real dilemma.",
                    "contextForm": "in a dilemma"
                },
                {
                    "text": "She faced a dilemma about whether to accept the offer or not.",
                    "contextForm": "dilemma about/over something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "the perennial dilemma between work and family commitments",
                    "contextForm": "dilemma between A and B"
                },
                {
                    "text": "I couldn't see any way out of the dilemma."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The dilemma facing the country's allies was even more serious."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The dilemma over human cloning lies at the heart of the ethical choices facing society."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The fundamental dilemma remains: in a tolerant society, should we tolerate intolerance?"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The minister is now in an impossible dilemma."
                },
                {
                    "text": "This poses a difficult dilemma for teachers."
                },
                {
                    "text": "the dilemma that arises when a doctor has to decide whether or not to prescribe an expensive treatment"
                }
            ],
            "synonyms": "predicament",
            "topics": ["Preferences and decisions"],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["acute", "appalling", "big"],
                "verb + dilemma": ["create", "pose", "present somebody with"],
                "dilemma + verb": ["arise", "occur", "lie"],
                "preposition": ["in a/​the dilemma", "dilemma about", "dilemma over"],
                "phrases": ["a solution to a dilemma", "a way out of a dilemma"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "in a situation in which you have to make a choice between things that are equally unpleasant",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The medical profession’s eagerness for scientific advance had impaled it on the horns of a dilemma, forcing an unnatural choice between science and morality."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The dire economic situation had placed the prime minister on the horns of a dilemma."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Preferences and decisions"]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈlemə//daɪˈlemə/",
                "audio": "di/dilemma/dilemma__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈlemə//daɪˈlemə/",
                "audio": "di/dilemma/dilemma__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "early 16th cent. (denoting a form of argument involving a choice between equally unfavourable alternatives): via Latin from Greek dilēmma, from di- ‘twice’ + lēmma ‘premise’."
}