Faustian dilemma
Faustian dilemma noun: having to choose between an option that promises short-term gain with foreseeable adverse long-term consequences, and an alternative option with no short-term gain and possibly even short-term suffering, but promising an eventually better future than the first option.
Noun
Faustian dilemma (plural Faustian dilemmas)
- Having to choose between an option that promises short-term gain with foreseeable adverse long-term consequences, and an alternative option with no short-term gain and possibly even short-term suffering, but promising an eventually better future than the first option.
- I find that many people see sustainability as a version of a Faustian dilemma; they often knowingly make choices that have immediate personal benefits, but in the long run are disastrous for all of us.2011 April 6, Ron Ashkenas, “Sustainability’s Faustian Dilemma”, in Harvard Business Review
Forms of Faustian dilemma
| plural | Faustian dilemmas |
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Questions about Faustian dilemma
- What does Faustian dilemma mean?
- Faustian dilemma means having to choose between an option that promises short-term gain with foreseeable adverse long-term consequences, and an alternative option with no short-term gain and possibly even short-term suffering, but promising an eventually better future than the first option.
- What part of speech is Faustian dilemma?
- Faustian dilemma is a noun.
- What is the plural of Faustian dilemma?
- The plural of Faustian dilemma is Faustian dilemmas.
Words near Faustian dilemma in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Faustian dilemma (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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