hobson's choice

Hobson's choice

H h

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [hob-suh nz]
- /ˈhɒb sənz/
- /ˈhɑːb.sənz tʃɔɪs/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [hob-suh nz]
- /ˈhɒb sənz/

Definitions of hobson's choice words

noun hobson's choice the choice of taking either that which is offered or nothing; the absence of a real alternative. 1
noun hobson's choice lack of genuine alternative 1
noun hobson's choice the choice of taking what is offered or nothing at all 0
noun hobson's choice a choice of taking what is offered or nothing at all; lack of an alternative 0
noun hobson's choice The choice of taking either the primary option or nothing. 0

See all 5 definitions of hobson's choice

Information block about the term

Origin of hobson's choice

First appearance:

before 1640

One of the 44% oldest English words

1640-50; after Thomas Hobson (1544-1631), of Cambridge, England, who rented horses and gave his customer only one choice, that of the horse nearest the stable door

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Hobson's choice

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Hobson's choice

hobson's choice popularity

This term is known only to a narrow circle of people with rare knowledge. Only 29% of English native speakers know the meaning of this word.

According to our data about 61% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

Synonyms for hobson's choice

noun hobson's choice

zero option — (in international nuclear arms negotiations) an offer to remove all shorter-range nuclear missiles or, in the case of the zero-zero option all intermediate-range nuclear missiles, if the other side will do the same

Just one Synonym for hobson's choice

Matching words

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