Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Quandary |
QuandaryNoun1. A situation from which extrication is difficult especially an unpleasant or trying one: "finds himself in a most awkward predicament"; "the woeful plight of homeless people". 2. State of uncertainty or perplexity especially as requiring a choice between equally unfavorable options. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "quandary" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1615. (references) |
Etymology: Quandary \Quan"da*ry\, noun; plural Quandaries. [Prob. from Old English wandreth adversity, perplexity, Icelandic wandr[ae][eth]i difficulty, trouble, from vandr difficult.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Quandary A perplexity; a state of hesitation. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Slang in 1811 | QUANDARY. To be in a quandary: to be puzzled. Also one so over-gorged, as to be doubtful which he should do first, sh--e or spew. Some derive the term quandary from the French phrase qu'en dirai je? what shall I say of it? others from an Italian word sign. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: QuandarySynonyms: dilemma (n), plight (n), predicament (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Difficulty | Nonplus, quandary, strait, pass, pinch, pretty pass, stress, brunt; critical situation, crisis; trial, rub, emergency, exigency, scramble. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Quandary |
| English words defined with "quandary": Quandaries. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "quandary": Dulcarnon. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Rush Limbaugh | Faced with this uniform show of vocal conservative support for Israel, the Hollywood Left and other members of the liberal population are in a real quandary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Quandary" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Quandary" is used about 53 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 53 | 46,657 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "quandary": be in a quandary. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
quandary | 9 |
quandary veritable | 9 |
peak quandary | 7 |
dr island quandary secret | 6 |
dr quandary | 5 |
mt quandary | 3 |
portland quandary veritable | 2 |
colorado peak quandary | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "quandary"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | vështirësi (difficulty, embarrassment, hardness, hitch, hurdle, knot, rub, scrape), mëdyshje (hesitance, hesitancy, hesitation, puzzle, vacillating), gjendje e vështirë (fix, imbroglio, jam, plight, predicament, tight squeeze). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | مأزق (bind, bottleneck, corner, critical situation, deadlock, deep water, dilemma, fix, impasse, jam, logjam, pickle, plight, predicament, quicksands, stalemate), ورطة (box, deadlock, dilemma, entanglement, fix, hole, hot water, jam, maw, mess, pickle, plight, predicament, quagmire, stalemate), صعوبة (awkwardness, difficulty, hardness, onerousness, profoundness, stiffness), إرتباك (awkwardness, bewilderment, confusion, constraint, disruption, distraction, embarrassment, foolishness, involvement, morass, mystification, nonplus, perplexity, pink, puzzle, puzzlement, self consciousness, shame, shyness, spot, tangle, uneasiness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | колебание (demur, dubiety, falter, faltering, fluctuation, hesitance, hesitancy, hesitation, hovel, indecision, oscillation, qualm, scruple, vacillation, variation, wabble, wavering, wobble), недоумение (perplexity, puzzle, puzzlement), затруднение (ado, cumber, difficulty, drawback, embarrassment, encumbrance, hang up, hard sledding, hardship, hitch, involvement, jackpot, perplexity, pinch, predicament, pressure, rub, scrape, spot, tickler, tight corner, tight squeeze, trouble). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 困惑 (puzzled, puzzling, Quandaries). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | rozpaky (confusion, dilemma, discomfort, embarrassment, nonplus, non-plus, plunge, puzzle, puzzlement, self consciousness), dilema (dilemma), bezradnost. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | معما (Conundrum, Crux, Enigma, Mystery, Problem, Puzzle), گیجی (Bafflement, Muddle, Razzledazzle, Stun, Stupefaction, Stupor), حیرت (Amazement, Consternation, Perplexity, Surprise, Wonder), تحیر (Razzledazzle), سرگردانی (Divagation, Ramble, Roam). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | embarras, dilemme, difficulté. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Zwickmühle (catch-22, dilemma, double mill), Verlegenheit (abashment, awkwardness, disconcertedness, embarrassment, nonplus, perplexity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | αβεβαιότησ (incertitude, precariousness, uncertainness, uncertainty), αβεβαιότητα (incertitude, precariousness, uncertainness, uncertainty), απορία (bewilderment, destitution, poverty, puzzle, query, question), δίλημμα (dilemma). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מבוכ" (bewilderment, embarrassment, fix, malaise, maze, mazeiness, perplexity, puzzlement, tizzy, tumult, turmoil). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | dilemma (dilemma), bizonytalanság (doubtfulness, fickleness, grogginess, hesitancy, insecurity, obscurity, precariousness, shakiness, suspense, uncertainty, vagueness, wobbliness), zavar (abashment, annoy, awkwardness, bafflement, bewilderment, bother, confusion, difficulties, discomfiture, discomposure, disorder, disorientation, disturb, disturbance, embarrassment, fermentation, harass, hitch, interfere, jam, mess-up, nonplus, perplexity, perturbation, puzzle, puzzlement, self-consciousness, shuffling, snarl, to discommode, to disturb, to fluster, to get into sy's hair, to get under one's skin, to incommode, to inconvenience, to put to it). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | kesulitan (complication, difficulty, hardness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | perplessit (bewilderment, incertitude, nonplus, perplexity, puzzle), incertezza (doubt, incertitude, indecision, suspense, uncertainty, unstableness, unsteadiness, unsureness, wobbliness), imbarazzo (abashment, awkwardness, confusion, constraint, disconcertedness, embarrassment, nonplus, obstacle, pause, uneasiness), dubbio (ambiguous, borderline, discredit, doubt, doubtful, doubts, dubious, incertitude, misgiving, queer, query, question, questionable, reflection, reflexion, uncertain, unsure). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | andaryquay situação difícil (cul-de-sac, difficult situation, pickle, problem), perplexidade (abashment, astonishment, baffle, flinch, knot, maze, maziness, mind-breaker, nonplus, perplexity, pucker, puzzle, puzzlement), embaraço (abashment, awkwardness, catch, cloggyness, complication, constrained, corner, difficulty, embarrassment, encumbrance, fix, mat, mess, mind-breaker, nonplus, obstacle, perplexity, pinch, rub, trouble), dilema (dilemma, fix, rift). (various references) dilemã (dilemma, node, perplexity, toss up), îndoialã (discredit, doubt, hesitation, incertitude, misgiving, peradventure, question, vacillation, wavering). (various references) затруднение (crux, cumber, difficulty, embarrassment, knot, perplexity, rub, scrape, tickler). (various references) zbunjenost (abashment, bewilderment, blankness, confusion, constraint, discomfiture, embarrassment, perplexity, puzzlement), dilema (dilemma). (various references) dilema (dilemma). (various references) dilemma (dilemma, fix). (various references) tereddüd (demur, doubt, fluctuation, hesitance, hesitancy, hesitation, incertitude, indecision, indeterminate, irresolution, oscillation, pause, perplexity, puzzle, shilly shally, suspense, uncertainty, vacillation, vibration, wobble), kuşku (disbelief, distrust, doubt, fears, impeachment, misgiving, query, question, surmise, suspicion, uneasiness), kararsızlık (changeability, dither, doubt, doubtfulness, dubiousness, fickleness, flightiness, fluctuation, haziness, hesitance, hesitancy, incertitude, inconsistency, indecision, indeterminate, infirmity, infirmity of purpose, instability, irresolution, looseness, oscillation, shilly shally, suspense, uncertainty, unsteadiness, vacillation, variability), ikilem (dilemma). (various references) скрутне становище (exigency, fix, involvement, nonplus, predicament, quagmire), здивування (amaze, amazement, astonishment, daze, marvel, perplex, surprise, wonder). (various references) tình thế lúng túng khó xử, tình thế bối rối. (various references) penbleth (perplexity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Misspellings | |
"Quandary" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Kandari, Kandhari, Qandhari, quadar, quadary, quadry, quanary, quanda, quander, quandery, quandory, quandrary, quandry, Quindry. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "quandary" (pronounced kwÄ"nderē) |
| 4 | -n d er ē | boundary. |
| 3 | -d er ē | camaraderie, embroidery, powdery, prudery. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-d-n-q-r-u-y" | |
-3 letters: randy, ruana, unary. | |
-4 letters: aqua, aura, darn, dray, dura, durn, nada, nard, nary, nurd, quad, quay, rand, raya, rynd, undy, yard, yarn, yaud, yuan. | |
-5 letters: ana, and, any, day, dry, dun, nay, qua, rad, ran, ray, run, rya, urd, urn, yar. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-d-n-q-r-u-y" | |
+5 letters: quadrennially. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Spoken 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Derivations 11. Rhymes 12. Anagrams | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
