Hobson's choice

plural Hobson's choices

1. idiomaticA situation where a person is presented with the illusion of a free choice, but in reality there is only one option available: accepting the offer or having nothing at all.

   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.

   2009 November 20, Stephen King, “Raymond Carver’s life and stories”, in The New York Times Book Review, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Aug 2025

   5 more examples

   A man is ſaid to have Hobſons choice given him, vvhen he muſt either take vvhat is left him, or chooſe vvhether he vvill have any part or no.

   [1670, J[ohn] R[ay], “Proverbial Phrases and Forms of Speech that are Not Entire Sentences. [Hobsons Choice.]”, in A Collection of English Proverbs […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] John Hayes, printer to the University, for W. Morden, →OCLC, page 181

   Several other marriages took place, the scarcity of subjects making it somewhat hazardous to delay: when Hobson's choice is placed before one, deliberation is of no great use.

   1847, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter VIII, in The Crater; or, Vulcan’s Peak. A Tale of the Pacific. […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: Burgess, Stringer & Co., →OCLC, pages 116–117

   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.

   1883 (date written; published 1884), George Bernard Shaw, chapter V, in An Unsocial Socialist, London: Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey & Co., […], published 1887, →OCLC, book I, page 71

   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.

   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 03 Jun 2023

   "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."

   2022, Stephen King, chapter 8, in Fairy Tale […], New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN, page 132

   Synonyms: nonchoice

2. broadlyidiomaticA choice between several undesirable options; Sophie's choice.

   Synonyms: Catch-22, dilemma, Morton's fork, no-win situation, quandary, Sophie's choice

3. CockneyslangThe voice.

   He's claiming copyright on his hobson's. / I beg your pardon. / His hobson's choice—his voice.

   1959, Ray Galton, Alan Simpson, Hancock’s Half Hour, season 6; quoted in “Hobson’s (choice) n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, 2026

   Synonyms: Hobson's