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quandary

noun
/ˈkwɒn.də.ɹi/UK/ˈkwɑn.də.ɹi/US/ˈkwɔn.də.ɹi/

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”).

  1. derived from vandræði — “difficulty, trouble”
  2. derived from wandreth

Definitions

  1. A state of not knowing what to decide

    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. 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.
    • But we may suppose that John has set his priorities in such a way that the quandary is spurious.

  3. A locality in the Temora council area, central New South Wales, Australia.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for quandary. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA