Hobson's
Hobson's is the ellipsis of Hobson's choice.
Meaning of Hobson's choice
Noun
Hobson's choice (plural Hobson's choices)
- A situation where a person is presented with the illusion of a free choice, but in reality there is only one option available: accepting the offer or having nothing at all.
- A man is ſaid to have Hobſons choice given him, vvhen he muſt either take vvhat is left him, or chooſe vvhether he vvill have any part or no.[1670, J[ohn] R[ay], “Proverbial Phrases and Forms of Speech that are Not Entire Sentences. [Hobsons Choice.]”, in A Collection of English Proverbs […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] John Hayes...
- Synonyms:
- nonchoice
- A choice between several undesirable options; Sophie's choice.
- Synonyms:
- Catch-22, dilemma, Morton's fork, no-win situation, quandary, Sophie's choice
- The voice.
- He's claiming copyright on his hobson's. / I beg your pardon. / His hobson's choice—his voice.1959, Ray Galton, Alan Simpson, Hancock’s Half Hour, season 6; quoted in “Hobson’s (choice) n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, 2026
- Synonyms:
- Hobson's
Phrases with Hobson's
Questions about Hobson's
- What is Hobson's the ellipsis of?
- Hobson's is the ellipsis of Hobson's choice.
Words near Hobson's in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Hobson's (page history and authors); Hobson's choice (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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “Hobson's.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hobson%27s. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.