Quandary

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkwɒn.də.ɹi/

Definitions

1. A state of uncertainty or perplexity about what to do in a difficult situation
2. A condition of confusion and indecision when faced with multiple conflicting choices or difficulties
3. An uncertain and puzzled state arising from being unable to determine the best course of action among difficult alternatives

Etymology: The most striking thing about "quandary" is how little anyone knows about where it came from. It first appears in the 16th century, but its origin is unknown, and the leading guess is that it began as a dialect corruption, a word reshaped to look like something from Latin by adding the ending "-ary." The word it may have been bent from is "wandreth," a Middle English term meaning evil, plight, peril, or difficulty. That older word traces back to Old Norse "vandræði," meaning trouble or difficulty, which in turn came from "vándr," an adjective meaning difficult or requiring careful effort. So the ancestry runs from Scandinavian speech into English, where a word for a bad predicament seems to have been dressed up in a more learned-sounding shape.

Synonyms: predicament, dilemma

Antonyms: certainty, solution