This week's theme
There's a word for it

This week's words
gelasin
sprezzatura
polylemma
schadenfreude
palimpsest

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(pol-ee-LEM-uh)

MEANING:

noun: A choice involving multiple undesirable options.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek poly- (many) + dilemma, from lemma (proposition). Earliest documented use: 1856. Also see trilemma, Hobson's choice, and Buridan's ass.

USAGE:

"Today's 'medical consumers' are confronted not by a mere dilemma but by a polylemma: a vast number of possibilities, each with advantages and assurances, disadvantages, and dangers."
Morton Hunt; A Common-Sense Guide to Health Insurance; The New York Times; May 3, 1987.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: