Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use quandary in a sentence

11 example sentences · noun

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. Example: “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.”

Examples of quandary by meaning

nounA state of not knowing what to decide; a state of difficulty or perplexity; a state of uncertainty, hesitation or...

  • 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
  • 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

More sentences with quandary

  • As he is orthodox and a regular shulgoer, this was quite a quandary.2000, Cyril Harris, For Heaven’s Sake: The Chief Rabbi’s Diary, Goodwood [Western Cape?], South Africa: Cyril Harris, →ISBN, page 136. From the entry shulgoer
  • And if the Israelis reinvade Gaza in a serious way, killing many Palestinians, it will create a quandary for Mr.2007 December 19, Steven Erlanger, “Israels Dilemma in Response to Rockets”, in New York Times. From the entry reinvade
  • This left him in a bit of a quandary.2002, No Sheds, “Native American Corner...”, in uk.rec.humour (Usenet). From the entry IGMC
  • Podson glanced at Bradly, and away from him, and rasped his shoulder-blades; manifesting these symptoms of ill-ease over a spiritual quandary.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 81. From the entry ill-ease
  • He began to caress his brow with the air of a person who finds himself in a quandary.1915, Hapsburg Liebe, Honorably Discharged. From the entry campchair
  • Helplessly hoping to open doors of perception To the mysteries and the quandaries of mankind; The secrets of the universe are all we wish to find.2015, William Austin Moore, The Keys to the Doors of Perception. From the entry doors of perception
  • Very often we made detours from the main caravan, rejoining it at a given spot, and this spirit of "wanderlust" brought us into a nice quandary one fine day.1908, Agnes Herbert, “Death of ‘The Baron’”, in Two Dianas in Somaliland: The Record of a Shooting Trip, London: John Lane, The Bodley…. From the entry wanderlust
  • That particular quandary was styled as a hallmark of Generation X, and Reality Bites was perhaps the most polished of a bunch of mainstream attempts to portray the ambivalent cohort.2019 March 6, Soraya Roberts, “Reality Bites Captured Gen X With Perfect Irony”, in The Atlantic. From the entry sell out

Meaning of quandary

  1. 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.

Full definition of quandary

Questions about quandary in a sentence

How do you use quandary in a sentence?
Quandary is used as a noun. For example: “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.”
What is a short sentence with quandary?
“This left him in a bit of a 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.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: quandary (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use quandary in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/quandary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.