Quandary
name, noun ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A state of not knowing what to decide; a state of difficulty or perplexity; a state of uncertainty, hesitation or puzzlement.
"As a Hitchin signalman once pointed out to me, when a regulating quandary arises concerning a fast-moving Class A train there is no time to consult Control and get their answer before the express is on one's doorstep."
- 2 state of uncertainty or perplexity especially as requiring a choice between equally unfavorable options wordnet
- 3 A dilemma, a difficult decision or choice.
"To quote the oracle of Delphi, / Love thou thy neighbor as thyself, aye, / And hate him as thyself thou hatest. / There quandary is at its greatest."
- 4 a situation from which extrication is difficult especially an unpleasant or trying one wordnet
- 1 A locality in the Temora council area, central New South Wales, Australia.
Example
More examples"When both girls told John they had feelings for him, he was in a quandary as to which girl he should be with."
Etymology
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”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.