quandary

Syllables: quan·da·ryUK/ˈkwɒn.də.ɹi/US/ˈkwɑn.də.ɹi/

quandary noun: a state of not knowing what to decide; a state of difficulty or perplexity; a state of uncertainty, hesitation or puzzlement; a dilemma, a difficult decision or choice.

Noun

quandary (plural quandaries)

A state of not knowing what to decide; a state of difficulty or perplexity; a state of uncertainty, hesitation or puzzlement; a dilemma, a difficult decision or choice.
- 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.1962 May, G. Freeman Allen, “Traffic control on the Great Northern Line”, in Modern Railways, page 343
- 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.1962, Robert Frost, “Quandary”, in In the Clearing, New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, page 92
Synonyms:

perplexity, pickle, predicament, uncertainty, Catch-22, dilemma, Hobson's choice, Morton's fork, no-win situation, Sophie's choice

Proper noun capitalized: Quandary

Quandary

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

quandary meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

quandary in Urdu

گومگو کا عالم, حیرت, معما, پریشانی, شش و پنج, تذبذب

quandary in Bengali

উভয়সংকট

More languagesFewer languages

quandary in Malayalam: കുഴപ്പം, വിഷമാവസ്ഥ, സംശയം
quandary in Kannada: ದಿಗ್ಭ್ರಾಂತಿ ಯಾ ದಿಕ್ಕುಗೆಟ್ಟ ಸ್ಥಿತಿ, ಇಕ್ಕಟ್ಟು, ಉಭಯ ಸಂಕಟ, ದ್ವಂದ್ವ

Examples of quandary in a sentence

But we may suppose that John has set his priorities in such a way that the quandary is spurious.1995, Douglas N. Walton, Erik C. W. Krabbe, Commitment in Dialogue: Basic Concepts of Interpersonal Reasoning, page 54:
What a difficult quandary for a bright, talented child!2000, Carol Ann Strip, Gretchen Hirsch, Helping Gifted Children Soar, page 208:
Then I would begin contemplating the next quandary: "Does the Torah say it's okay to portray a hooker, and is a heart of gold a mitigating factor?"2004, Jennifer Traig, Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood, page 181:

All 11 example sentences with quandary

Synonyms of quandary

26 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of quandary

Forms of quandary

plural	quandaries

Plural of quandary: quandaries

Origin of quandary

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”).

Questions about quandary

What does quandary mean?: Quandary means a state of not knowing what to decide; a state of difficulty or perplexity; a state of uncertainty, hesitation or puzzlement; a dilemma, a difficult decision or choice.
What is quandary in Hindi?: Quandary in Hindi is उलझन (uljhan). See Quandary meaning in Hindi.
How do you use quandary in a sentence?: But we may suppose that John has set his priorities in such a way that the quandary is spurious.
What part of speech is quandary?: Quandary can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce quandary?: Quandary is pronounced /ˈkwɒn.də.ɹi/ (UK).
What is the plural of quandary?: The plural of quandary is quandaries.

Words near quandary in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-quandary.ogg.

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