Strait vs Dilemma - What's the difference?
strait | dilemma |
(archaic) Narrow; restricted as to space or room; close.
* Emerson
* 1866 , , Aholibah , lines 53-55
* 1900 , , To One in Bedlam , lines 3-5
(archaic) Righteous, strict.
* 1597 , , IV. iii. 79:
* Bible, Acts xxvi. 5 (Rev. Ver.)
(obsolete) Tight; close; tight-fitting.
* 1613 , , III. vi. 86:
(obsolete) Close; intimate; near; familiar.
* Sir Philip Sidney
(obsolete) Difficult; distressful; straited.
* Secker
(obsolete) Parsimonious; niggardly; mean.
* 1596 , , V. vii. 42:
(geography) A narrow channel of water connecting two larger bodies of water.
* De Foe
A narrow pass or passage.
* Spenser
* 1602 , , III. iii. 154:
A neck of land; an isthmus.
* Tennyson
A difficult position (often used in plural).
* South
* Broome
(obsolete) Strictly; rigorously.
* 1593 , , III. ii. 20:
A circumstance in which a choice must be made between two or more alternatives that seem equally undesirable.
* Jonathan Swift
A difficult circumstance or problem.
(logic) A type of syllogism of the form "if A is true then B is true; if C is true then D is true; either A or C is true; therefore either B or D is true".
(rhetoric) Offering to an opponent a choice between two (equally unfavorable) alternatives.
*
As nouns the difference between strait and dilemma
is that strait is (geography) a narrow channel of water connecting two larger bodies of water while dilemma is dilemma (a situation with two (or more) alternatives to choose from, and where all alternatives are unsatisfactory or undesirable ).As an adjective strait
is (archaic) narrow; restricted as to space or room; close.As a verb strait
is (obsolete) to put to difficulties.As an adverb strait
is (obsolete) strictly; rigorously.strait
English
Adjective
(er)- too strait and low our cottage doors
- Sweet oil was poured out on thy head
- And ran down like cool rain between
- The strait close locks it melted in.
- Those scentless wisps of straw, that miserably line
- His strait , caged universe, whereat the dull world stares,
- Pedant and pitiful.
- to follow the strait and narrow
- some certain edicts and some strait decrees
- the straitest sect of our religion
- Is not this piece too strait ? / No, no, 'tis well.
- a strait degree of favour
- to make your strait' circumstances yet ' straiter
- I beg cold comfort, and you are so strait , / And so ingrateful, you deny me that.
Usage notes
The adjective is often confused with straight.Derived terms
* straitjacket * strait-lacedNoun
(en noun) (wikipedia strait)- The Strait of Gibraltar
- We steered directly through a large outlet which they call a strait , though it be fifteen miles broad.
- He brought him through a darksome narrow strait / To a broad gate all built of beaten gold.
- For honour travels in a strait so narrow / Where one but goes abreast.
- a dark strait of barren land
- to be in dire straits
- Let no man, who owns a Providence, grow desperate under any calamity or strait whatsoever.
- Ulysses made use of the pretense of natural infirmity to conceal the straits he was in at that time in his thoughts.
Derived terms
* dire straitsAdverb
(en adverb)- Proceed no straiter 'gainst our uncle Gloucester
Anagrams
*dilemma
English
Noun
(en-noun)- A strong dilemma in a desperate case! / To act with infamy, or quit the place.
Usage notes
* The sense of a difficult circumstance or problem is considered non-standard[by whom?]. * Occasionally spelled/misspelled as dilemna'', perhaps originally via false analogy with words such as ''condemn'', ''solemn'', and ''hymn . This spelling has been reportedly taught in many regions of Great Britain and the United States as well as around the world; and can be found in the works of many well-known authors (e.g. Watts, Defroe & Goldsmith).World Wide Words: Dilemma
