Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A situation that requires a choice among three options that are or seem equally unfavorable or mutually exclusive.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In logic, a syllogism with three conditional propositions, the major premises of which are disjunctively affirmed in the minor. See dilemma.
  • noun Hence, in general, any choice between three objects.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Logic) A syllogism with three conditional propositions, the major premises of which are disjunctively affirmed in the minor. See dilemma.
  • noun A state of things in which it is difficult to determine which one of three courses to pursue.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options that seem equally undesirable.
  • noun logic A syllogism containing three alternatives that each infer the same conclusion.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[tri– + (di)lemma.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Modelled on dilemma, replacing di-, two with tri-, three

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