dilema

See also: dilemă

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dilēmma, from Ancient Greek δίλημμα (dílēmma).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [diˈlɛ.mə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [diˈle.mə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [diˈle.ma]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Noun

dilema m (plural dilemes)

1. dilemma

Further reading

• “dilema”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “dilema”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “dilema” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “dilema” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈdɪlɛma]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛma
• Hyphenation: di‧le‧ma

Noun

dilema n

1. dilemma

Declension

Declension of dilema (ma-stem neuter)

	singular	plural
nominative	dilema	dilemata
genitive	dilematu	dilemat
dative	dilematu	dilematům
accusative	dilema	dilemata
vocative	dilema	dilemata
locative	dilematu	dilematech
instrumental	dilematem	dilematy

Coordinate terms

• trilema

Derived terms

• falešné dilema n

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒiˈlẽ.mɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒiˈlẽ.mɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒiˈle.ma/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /diˈle.mɐ/

• Rhymes: -emɐ

Noun

dilema m (plural dilemas)

1. dilemma (circumstance in which a choice must be made between two alternatives)
2. (loosely) dilemma (difficult circumstance)
3. (logic) dilemma

Further reading

• “dilema”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “dilema”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dilěːma/
• Hyphenation: di‧le‧ma

Noun

diléma f (Cyrillic spelling диле́ма)

1. dilemma

Declension

Declension of dilema

	singular	plural
nominative	dilema	dileme
genitive	dileme	dilema
dative	dilemi	dilemama
accusative	dilemu	dileme
vocative	dilemo	dileme
locative	dilemi	dilemama
instrumental	dilemom	dilemama

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin dilēmma, from Ancient Greek δίλημμα (dílēmma), from δίς (dís, “twice”) + λῆμμα (lêmma, “premise, assumption”), from λαμβάνω (lambánō, “to take”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /diˈlema/ [d̪iˈle.ma]

• Audio (Costa Rica):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ema
• Syllabification: di‧le‧ma

Noun

dilema m (plural dilemas)

1. dilemma, quandary

   Synonym: disyuntiva

Derived terms

• dilemático

Further reading

• “dilema”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025