Word.ws English Dictionary

Kobayashi Maru

/ˈkoʊbɑjɑʃi məˈruː/

Kobayashi Maru noun: a scenario with no positive or favourable outcome; a no-win situation.

Noun

Kobayashi Maru (plural Kobayashi Marus)

  1. (informal) A scenario with no positive or favourable outcome; a no-win situation.
    • Christmas is the Kobayashi Maru of holidays. It is unwinnable.2010, April Winchell, Regretsy: Where DIY Meets WTF, page 121
    • Martin said, “Gwen, do you understand that there’s no right answer to that? You've asked me the Kobayashi Maru of questions. There’s no possible way to answer that won't make you mad.”2015, Scott Meyer, An Unwelcome Quest, page 265

Forms of Kobayashi Maru

pluralKobayashi Marus

Origin of Kobayashi Maru

From the fictional Kobayashi Maru test, first introduced in the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, a training exercise in which Starfleet cadets face an intentionally unwinnable scenario as a test of character. The test involves the rescue of an eponymous vessel, named by Star Trek II screenwriter Jack B. Sowards after his neighbours, from the Japanese family name Kobayashi and maru (a suffix of Japanese ship names).

Questions about Kobayashi Maru

What does Kobayashi Maru mean?
Kobayashi Maru means a scenario with no positive or favourable outcome; a no-win situation.
What part of speech is Kobayashi Maru?
Kobayashi Maru is a noun.
How do you pronounce Kobayashi Maru?
Kobayashi Maru is pronounced /ˈkoʊbɑjɑʃi məˈruː/.
What is the plural of Kobayashi Maru?
The plural of Kobayashi Maru is Kobayashi Marus.

Words near Kobayashi Maru in the dictionary

  1. Kobanî
  2. Kobarid
  3. kobas
  4. Kobashigawa
  5. Kobayashi
  6. Kobayashi Maru
  7. Kobayashi Marus
  8. Kobayashis
  9. Kobe
  10. Kobe beef
  11. kobeite

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Kobayashi Maru (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Kobayashi Maru.wav.

Cite this entry: “Kobayashi Maru.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kobayashi_maru. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.