meaning - Has "dilemma" ever been restricted to two options?


I was surprised to discover my dictionary had this entry for dilemma:



a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives, esp. equally undesirable ones



The notion of dilemma meaning two or more flies against what I was taught about the word. The very idea of a false dilemma is specifically based on the number two.


Has my dictionary merely updated its definition to encapsulate the many people who use dilemma for more than two equal choices? Or was someone in my youth being unnecessarily pedantic?



Answer



The etymology for dilemma reveals that the original meaning of the word was specific to two (di-) premises (lemmas). In fact, Etymology Online states



It should be used only of situations where someone is forced to choose between two alternatives, both unfavorable to him.



So yes, it should properly only be used for two unpleasant alternatives. I would speculate that your dictionary has been updated to include more modern usage, which is less specific about the number of choices to be made, perhaps because the "important" part of the meaning is that a person must make an unpleasant choice.


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