Idiom
greater of two evils
Meaning
The most harmful or unpleasant of two undesirable alternatives.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Choosing between these two bad options is the greater of two evils.”
“We had to choose between cutting staff or reducing salaries, and we chose the greater of two evils by letting people go.”
“Faced with the collapse of the economy or a painful period of austerity, the government argued that the latter was merely the greater of two evils.”
Examples
simple
“Choosing between these two bad options is the greater of two evils.”
contextual
“We had to choose between cutting staff or reducing salaries, and we chose the greater of two evils by letting people go.”
complex
“Faced with the collapse of the economy or a painful period of austerity, the government argued that the latter was merely the greater of two evils.”
Key words
Related idioms
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