3 uses
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Definition
a situation in which a difficult choice must be made between imperfect alternatives
- Hung by the populace for waiting, hung by the cardinal for not having waited, he saw between the two dilemmas only an abyss; that is to say, a gallows.1.1.2 — Vol 1 Bk 1 Chpt 2 — Pierre Gringoire (6% in)
- ...his head against many a street corner, leaping many a gutter, traversing many an alley, many a court, many a square, seeking flight and passage through all the meanderings of the ancient passages of the Halles, exploring in his panic terror what the fine Latin of the maps calls ~tota via, cheminum et viaria~, our poet suddenly halted for lack of breath in the first place, and in the second, because he had been collared, after a fashion, by a dilemma which had just occurred to his mind.1.2.6 — Vol 1 Bk 2 Chpt 6 — The Broken Jug (1% in)
- If I possessed an expedient for extricating her from a dilemma, without compromising my own neck to the extent of a single running knot, what would you say to it?2.10.1 — Vol 2 Bk 10 Chpt 1 — Gringoire Has Many Good.... (88% in)
There are no more uses of "dilemma" in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Typical Usage
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