on the horns of a dilemma
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Faced with a decision involving equally unfavourable alternatives.
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Đứng trước một quyết định liên quan đến các lựa chọn không thuận lợi như nhau
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
By the beginning of 1957 Franco found himself on the horns of a dilemma: both change and immobilism implied a high degree of risk for his continuation in power.
' My son, ' said Alex, ' you are on the horns of a dilemma. '
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “on the horns of a dilemma” mean?
Faced with a decision involving equally unfavourable alternatives.
Is “on the horns of a dilemma” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.