See Hobson's choice in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
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"ref": "1847, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 23, in The Crater:",
"text": "When Hobson's choice is placed before one, deliberation is of no great use.",
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{
"ref": "1887, George Bernard Shaw, chapter 5, in An Unsocial Socialist:",
"text": "In other words, they might go to the devil and starve—Hobson's choice!—for all the other factories were owned by men who offered no better terms.",
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{
"ref": "2009 November 20, Stephen King, “Raymond Carver’s Life and Stories”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
"text": "This Hobson’s choice is the beating heart of “Raymond Carver: A Writer’s Life.” Any writer might wonder what he’d do in such a case.",
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"ref": "2011 January 13, Lawrence Wright, “Lebanon’s Tragic Hero”, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-06-03:",
"text": "Such Hobson's choices are the stuff of high drama, but unfortunately for poor, lovely Lebanon it is a tragedy that never seems to end.",
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"ref": "2022, Stephen King, chapter 8, in Fairy Tale, page 132:",
"text": "\"Hobson's Choice.\" He was still stroking Radar, long glides of his hand from nape to tail. \"In the end, it seems to me that one or two good months are better than six bad ones. If it works at all, that is.\"",
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"A choice in which it seems that one has multiple options, but only one good thing is actually offered; a choice of the form \"take it or leave it\"."
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"ref": "1959, Ray Galton, Alan Simpson, Hancock's Half Hour; quoted in Green's Dictionary of Slang, n.d.:",
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"ref": "1887, George Bernard Shaw, chapter 5, in An Unsocial Socialist:",
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"text": "This Hobson’s choice is the beating heart of “Raymond Carver: A Writer’s Life.” Any writer might wonder what he’d do in such a case.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2011 January 13, Lawrence Wright, “Lebanon’s Tragic Hero”, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-06-03:",
"text": "Such Hobson's choices are the stuff of high drama, but unfortunately for poor, lovely Lebanon it is a tragedy that never seems to end.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2022, Stephen King, chapter 8, in Fairy Tale, page 132:",
"text": "\"Hobson's Choice.\" He was still stroking Radar, long glides of his hand from nape to tail. \"In the end, it seems to me that one or two good months are better than six bad ones. If it works at all, that is.\"",
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Download raw JSONL data for Hobson's choice meaning in English (4.0kB)
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