Choose the correct meaning of idiom: Hobson’s choice

Correct — C. Hobson's choice is a choice in name only: you take what is offered, or you take nothing.

The phrase is traced to Thomas Hobson, a Cambridge man who hired out horses. The story goes that each customer had to take the horse in the stall nearest the door, or none at all.

One option dressed up as a choice is no real choice at all → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  A dilemma between two evils — A dilemma offers two options, both bad. Hobson's choice offers one, to take or leave. The phrase is sometimes stretched to cover bad alternatives, but that is a looser extension, not its core sense.
• (b)
  A free and fair decision — A free and fair decision is the reverse of the idiom. The point of Hobson's choice is that the freedom is apparent, not real: there is nothing to choose between.
• (d)
  A selection made under duress — Under duress means under threat or pressure. Nobody threatens Hobson's customer, who is free to walk away. What limits him is the lack of alternatives, not coercion.

Idioms named after a person, eponymous idioms, cannot be decoded word by word. 'Hobson' tells you nothing unless you know the story behind it.

The story here is a stable-keeper's rule: the horse nearest the door, or no horse. So the idiom describes an offer that looks like a choice but leaves one real option.

Keep it apart from its neighbours. A dilemma is two options, both unwelcome. Duress is pressure applied from outside. Hobson's choice is neither; it is the absence of alternatives.

Key facts

• Hobson's choice means an apparently free choice in which one option is actually offered: take it or leave it.
• It is traditionally traced to Thomas Hobson of Cambridge, who hired out horses.
• A dilemma is a choice between two options, typically both unwelcome.
• Duress is compulsion by threat or pressure.

Common traps

• Choosing 'A dilemma between two evils' because Hobson's choice sounds like a hard choice
• Choosing 'A selection made under duress' because the customer seems forced, when nobody threatens him

No directly related past PYQ was found.