lesser evils
Preferable bad options
Lesser evils are bad options chosen because the alternatives are worse.
The phrase appears most often in the singular: voting for the lesser evil means supporting a flawed candidate to prevent a worse one from winning.
The construction acknowledges that no good choice exists—only degrees of harm to be minimized.
- trade-offExchange requiring sacrifice
- decisionSettled course of action
- rock and a hard placeSituation with only bad choices
- no-win situationDilemma without good outcomes
- consequencesResults of actions taken
harm prevention · calculated risk · compromise · tough call · preferences · paradox · choice · Pyrrhic victory · trolley problem · moral calculus · moral dilemmas · option · politics · damage control · balancing act · risk mitigation · self-preservation · existential threat
choice quality
lesser evilsfirst choices
Initially preferred selections
top picks · slam dunks · having one's cake and eating it too