See trilemma in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"coordinate_terms": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"english": "two options",
"word": "dilemma"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"english": "four options",
"word": "tetralemma"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "polylemma"
}
],
"derived": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "Agrippa's trilemma"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "Lewis's trilemma"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "Münchhausen trilemma"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "trilemmatic"
}
],
"etymology_text": "The word is modelled on dilemma, with di- (“two, twice, double”) replaced by tri- (“three”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "trilemmas",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "trilemma (plural trilemmas)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"tri‧lem‧ma"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "lemma"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "10 46 44",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Entries with translation boxes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 42 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Catalan translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "13 45 43",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "12 45 43",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with French translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 42 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Galician translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "12 45 43",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with German translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "13 42 45",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Greek translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 41 48",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Indonesian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "10 46 44",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Italian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "10 46 44",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Japanese translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 42 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Korean translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 44 44",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "15 39 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "10 46 44",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Russian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 41 48",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Vietnamese translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "19 42 39",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Three",
"orig": "en:Three",
"parents": [
"Numbers",
"All topics",
"Terms by semantic function",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1853 March, “Article I. The Mode of Baptism.”, in The True Baptist, volume I, number 3, Jackson, Miss.: Published by the editor, →OCLC, page 76:",
"text": "With all these dilemmas and trilemmas crowding the mind, if one did not know better, one might be tempted to doubt whether any such versions were ever made at all.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options that seem equally undesirable."
],
"id": "en-trilemma-en-noun-lqZrWQtT",
"links": [
[
"circumstance",
"circumstance"
],
[
"choice",
"choice"
],
[
"three",
"three"
],
[
"options",
"option#Noun"
],
[
"equally",
"equally"
],
[
"undesirable",
"undesirable"
]
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "59 37 3",
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "trilema"
},
{
"_dis1": "59 37 3",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "sānnánkùnjìng",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "三难困境"
},
{
"_dis1": "59 37 3",
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "trilema"
},
{
"_dis1": "59 37 3",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "trilemma"
},
{
"_dis1": "59 37 3",
"code": "eo",
"lang": "Esperanto",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "trilemo"
},
{
"_dis1": "59 37 3",
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "trilemme"
},
{
"_dis1": "59 37 3",
"code": "gl",
"lang": "Galician",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "trilema"
},
{
"_dis1": "59 37 3",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Trilemma"
},
{
"_dis1": "59 37 3",
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "trílimma",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "τρίλημμα"
},
{
"_dis1": "59 37 3",
"code": "id",
"lang": "Indonesian",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "trilema"
},
{
"_dis1": "59 37 3",
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "trilemma"
},
{
"_dis1": "59 37 3",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "三すくみ"
},
{
"_dis1": "59 37 3",
"code": "ko",
"lang": "Korean",
"roman": "teurillema",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "트릴레마"
},
{
"_dis1": "59 37 3",
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "trilema"
},
{
"_dis1": "59 37 3",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "trilemma",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "трилемма"
},
{
"_dis1": "59 37 3",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "trilema"
},
{
"_dis1": "59 37 3",
"code": "vi",
"lang": "Vietnamese",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "tam nan"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "8 43 49",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "10 46 44",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Entries with translation boxes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "8 47 46",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 2 entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "5 47 48",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 42 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Catalan translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "13 45 43",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "9 44 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Esperanto translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "12 45 43",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with French translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 42 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Galician translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "12 45 43",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with German translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "13 42 45",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Greek translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 41 48",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Indonesian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "10 46 44",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Italian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "10 46 44",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Japanese translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 42 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Korean translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 44 44",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "15 39 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "10 46 44",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Russian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "9 46 46",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 41 48",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Vietnamese translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "19 42 39",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Three",
"orig": "en:Three",
"parents": [
"Numbers",
"All topics",
"Terms by semantic function",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2004 March, Maurice Obstfeld, Jay C. Shambaugh, Alan M. Taylor, “The Trilemma in History: Tradeoffs among Exchange Rates, Monetary Policies, and Capital Mobility”, in Econometrics Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-08-12, page 1:",
"text": "At the most general level, policymakers in open economies face a macroeconomic trilemma: 1. to stabilize the exchange rate; 2. to enjoy free international capital mobility; 3. to engage in a monetary policy oriented toward domestic goals. Because only two out of the three objectives can be mutually consistent, policymakers must decide which one to give up.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2018 April 18, Stephen Farry, Sorcha Eastwood, “Good Friday Agreement: why it matters in Brexit”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), ukandeu.ac.uk:",
"text": "The UK government has forced itself into a trilemma in which it has adopted three positions, only two of which can be achieved at any one time: to avoid a hard border within the island of Ireland; for the UK as whole to leave both the customs union and the single market; and to rule out any special arrangements for Northern Ireland in relation to a customs union and single market.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2023 June 2, Charles Xie, “Trilemma Trade-Offs: A New CAP Theorem For Vector Databases Has Emerged”, Forbes Technology Council, in Forbes, Forbes Media, archived from the original on 2023-06-06:",
"text": "In computing, the unconquerable trilemma is embodied in the well-known CAP theorem for distributed systems, also called Brewer’s CAP theorem. This states that any distributed database can only attain two of three guarantees: consistency, availability and partition tolerance.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A situation in which a choice must be made among three desirable options, only two of which are possible at the same time."
],
"id": "en-trilemma-en-noun-nN2ExWfa",
"links": [
[
"desirable",
"desirable"
],
[
"two",
"two"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Logic",
"orig": "en:Logic",
"parents": [
"Formal sciences",
"Philosophy",
"Sciences",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "8 43 49",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "19 34 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms prefixed with tri-",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "10 46 44",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Entries with translation boxes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "8 47 46",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 2 entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "5 47 48",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 42 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Catalan translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "12 38 50",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Czech translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "13 45 43",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "9 44 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Esperanto translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "12 45 43",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with French translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 42 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Galician translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "12 45 43",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with German translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "13 42 45",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Greek translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 41 48",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Indonesian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "10 46 44",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Italian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "10 46 44",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Japanese translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 42 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Korean translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 44 44",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "15 39 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "10 46 44",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Russian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "9 46 46",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 41 48",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Vietnamese translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "19 42 39",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Three",
"orig": "en:Three",
"parents": [
"Numbers",
"All topics",
"Terms by semantic function",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1851, [James William Gilbart], Logic for the Million: A Familiar Exposition of the Art of Reasoning, London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, →OCLC, part IV (The Points of Reasoning), section V (Reasoning by Compound Syllogism), subsection III (The Trilemma), page 324:",
"text": "It has been remarked as a characteristic of the late Sir Robert Peel, that in introducing his measures to the House of Commons, he often used the trilemma. \"Three courses are before us—to go backward, to stand still, to go forward. We cannot go backward; we cannot stand still; we must, then, go forward.\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1862 July 1, “Art. VII.—(1.) Kirche und Kirchen, Papstthum und Kirchenstaat. Historisch-politische Bertrachtungen von Joh. Jos. Ign. v. Döllinger. Zweiter unveränderter Abdruck. München: 1861. (2.) The Church and the Churches; or, The Papacy and The Temporal Power. An Historical and Political Review. By Dr. Döllinger. Translated by William Bernard MacCabe. London: 1862.”, in The British Quarterly Review, volume XXXVI, number LXXI, London: Jackson, Walford, & Hodder 18, St. Paul's Churchyard and Simpkin, Marshall and Co., Stationers' Hall Court; Edinburgh: W. Oliphant & Co.; Glasgow: J[ames] MacLehose; Dublin: J. Robertson, →OCLC, page 156:",
"text": "And in anticipation of it, while he [Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger] declares at one moment that it would be profane to limit Divine Providence to an alternative, he affirms in the next that there can be no harm whatever in shutting it up to a supposed exhaustive trilemma.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An argument containing three alternatives, jointly exhaustive either under any condition(s) or under all condition(s) consistent with the universe of discourse of that argument, that each imply the same conclusion."
],
"id": "en-trilemma-en-noun-FlaySJYu",
"links": [
[
"logic",
"logic"
],
[
"argument",
"argument"
],
[
"alternative",
"alternative"
],
[
"exhaustive",
"exhaustive"
],
[
"condition(s)",
"condition#Noun"
],
[
"universe of discourse",
"universe of discourse"
],
[
"imply",
"imply"
],
[
"conclusion",
"conclusion"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(logic) An argument containing three alternatives, jointly exhaustive either under any condition(s) or under all condition(s) consistent with the universe of discourse of that argument, that each imply the same conclusion."
],
"topics": [
"human-sciences",
"logic",
"mathematics",
"philosophy",
"sciences"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "6 13 81",
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "(logic) argument containing three alternatives",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "trilema"
},
{
"_dis1": "6 13 81",
"code": "eo",
"lang": "Esperanto",
"sense": "(logic) argument containing three alternatives",
"word": "trilemo"
},
{
"_dis1": "6 13 81",
"code": "gl",
"lang": "Galician",
"sense": "(logic) argument containing three alternatives",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "trilema"
},
{
"_dis1": "6 13 81",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "trilemma",
"sense": "(logic) argument containing three alternatives",
"word": "трилемма"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/tɹaɪˈlɛmə/",
"tags": [
"General-American",
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-trilemma.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/47/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-trilemma.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-trilemma.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/47/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-trilemma.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-trilemma.wav.ogg"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɛmə"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"project management triangle"
],
"word": "trilemma"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English terms prefixed with tri-",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 2 entries",
"Pages with entries",
"Rhymes:English/ɛmə",
"Rhymes:English/ɛmə/3 syllables",
"Terms with Catalan translations",
"Terms with Czech translations",
"Terms with Dutch translations",
"Terms with Esperanto translations",
"Terms with French translations",
"Terms with Galician translations",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Greek translations",
"Terms with Indonesian translations",
"Terms with Italian translations",
"Terms with Japanese translations",
"Terms with Korean translations",
"Terms with Mandarin translations",
"Terms with Portuguese translations",
"Terms with Russian translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations",
"Terms with Vietnamese translations",
"en:Three"
],
"coordinate_terms": [
{
"english": "two options",
"word": "dilemma"
},
{
"english": "four options",
"word": "tetralemma"
},
{
"word": "polylemma"
}
],
"derived": [
{
"word": "Agrippa's trilemma"
},
{
"word": "Lewis's trilemma"
},
{
"word": "Münchhausen trilemma"
},
{
"word": "trilemmatic"
}
],
"etymology_text": "The word is modelled on dilemma, with di- (“two, twice, double”) replaced by tri- (“three”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "trilemmas",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "trilemma (plural trilemmas)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"tri‧lem‧ma"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"word": "lemma"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1853 March, “Article I. The Mode of Baptism.”, in The True Baptist, volume I, number 3, Jackson, Miss.: Published by the editor, →OCLC, page 76:",
"text": "With all these dilemmas and trilemmas crowding the mind, if one did not know better, one might be tempted to doubt whether any such versions were ever made at all.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options that seem equally undesirable."
],
"links": [
[
"circumstance",
"circumstance"
],
[
"choice",
"choice"
],
[
"three",
"three"
],
[
"options",
"option#Noun"
],
[
"equally",
"equally"
],
[
"undesirable",
"undesirable"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2004 March, Maurice Obstfeld, Jay C. Shambaugh, Alan M. Taylor, “The Trilemma in History: Tradeoffs among Exchange Rates, Monetary Policies, and Capital Mobility”, in Econometrics Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-08-12, page 1:",
"text": "At the most general level, policymakers in open economies face a macroeconomic trilemma: 1. to stabilize the exchange rate; 2. to enjoy free international capital mobility; 3. to engage in a monetary policy oriented toward domestic goals. Because only two out of the three objectives can be mutually consistent, policymakers must decide which one to give up.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2018 April 18, Stephen Farry, Sorcha Eastwood, “Good Friday Agreement: why it matters in Brexit”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), ukandeu.ac.uk:",
"text": "The UK government has forced itself into a trilemma in which it has adopted three positions, only two of which can be achieved at any one time: to avoid a hard border within the island of Ireland; for the UK as whole to leave both the customs union and the single market; and to rule out any special arrangements for Northern Ireland in relation to a customs union and single market.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2023 June 2, Charles Xie, “Trilemma Trade-Offs: A New CAP Theorem For Vector Databases Has Emerged”, Forbes Technology Council, in Forbes, Forbes Media, archived from the original on 2023-06-06:",
"text": "In computing, the unconquerable trilemma is embodied in the well-known CAP theorem for distributed systems, also called Brewer’s CAP theorem. This states that any distributed database can only attain two of three guarantees: consistency, availability and partition tolerance.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A situation in which a choice must be made among three desirable options, only two of which are possible at the same time."
],
"links": [
[
"desirable",
"desirable"
],
[
"two",
"two"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations",
"en:Logic"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1851, [James William Gilbart], Logic for the Million: A Familiar Exposition of the Art of Reasoning, London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, →OCLC, part IV (The Points of Reasoning), section V (Reasoning by Compound Syllogism), subsection III (The Trilemma), page 324:",
"text": "It has been remarked as a characteristic of the late Sir Robert Peel, that in introducing his measures to the House of Commons, he often used the trilemma. \"Three courses are before us—to go backward, to stand still, to go forward. We cannot go backward; we cannot stand still; we must, then, go forward.\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1862 July 1, “Art. VII.—(1.) Kirche und Kirchen, Papstthum und Kirchenstaat. Historisch-politische Bertrachtungen von Joh. Jos. Ign. v. Döllinger. Zweiter unveränderter Abdruck. München: 1861. (2.) The Church and the Churches; or, The Papacy and The Temporal Power. An Historical and Political Review. By Dr. Döllinger. Translated by William Bernard MacCabe. London: 1862.”, in The British Quarterly Review, volume XXXVI, number LXXI, London: Jackson, Walford, & Hodder 18, St. Paul's Churchyard and Simpkin, Marshall and Co., Stationers' Hall Court; Edinburgh: W. Oliphant & Co.; Glasgow: J[ames] MacLehose; Dublin: J. Robertson, →OCLC, page 156:",
"text": "And in anticipation of it, while he [Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger] declares at one moment that it would be profane to limit Divine Providence to an alternative, he affirms in the next that there can be no harm whatever in shutting it up to a supposed exhaustive trilemma.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An argument containing three alternatives, jointly exhaustive either under any condition(s) or under all condition(s) consistent with the universe of discourse of that argument, that each imply the same conclusion."
],
"links": [
[
"logic",
"logic"
],
[
"argument",
"argument"
],
[
"alternative",
"alternative"
],
[
"exhaustive",
"exhaustive"
],
[
"condition(s)",
"condition#Noun"
],
[
"universe of discourse",
"universe of discourse"
],
[
"imply",
"imply"
],
[
"conclusion",
"conclusion"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(logic) An argument containing three alternatives, jointly exhaustive either under any condition(s) or under all condition(s) consistent with the universe of discourse of that argument, that each imply the same conclusion."
],
"topics": [
"human-sciences",
"logic",
"mathematics",
"philosophy",
"sciences"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/tɹaɪˈlɛmə/",
"tags": [
"General-American",
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-trilemma.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/47/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-trilemma.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-trilemma.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/47/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-trilemma.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-trilemma.wav.ogg"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɛmə"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "trilema"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "sānnánkùnjìng",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "三难困境"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "trilema"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "trilemma"
},
{
"code": "eo",
"lang": "Esperanto",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "trilemo"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "trilemme"
},
{
"code": "gl",
"lang": "Galician",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "trilema"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Trilemma"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "trílimma",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "τρίλημμα"
},
{
"code": "id",
"lang": "Indonesian",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "trilema"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "trilemma"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "三すくみ"
},
{
"code": "ko",
"lang": "Korean",
"roman": "teurillema",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "트릴레마"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "trilema"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "trilemma",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "трилемма"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "trilema"
},
{
"code": "vi",
"lang": "Vietnamese",
"sense": "circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options",
"word": "tam nan"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "(logic) argument containing three alternatives",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "trilema"
},
{
"code": "eo",
"lang": "Esperanto",
"sense": "(logic) argument containing three alternatives",
"word": "trilemo"
},
{
"code": "gl",
"lang": "Galician",
"sense": "(logic) argument containing three alternatives",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "trilema"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "trilemma",
"sense": "(logic) argument containing three alternatives",
"word": "трилемма"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"project management triangle"
],
"word": "trilemma"
}
Download raw JSONL data for trilemma meaning in English (10.2kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (f889f65 and 8fbd9e8). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.