- chicken-and-egg
- adjective Etymology: from the proverbial question “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” Date: 1959 of, relating to, or being a cause-and-effect dilemma
New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.
chicken-and-egg
Look at other dictionaries:
chicken-and-egg — ► chicken and egg (of a situation) in which each of two things appears to be necessary to the other. [ORIGIN: from the question ‘What came first, the chicken or the egg?’] Main Entry: ↑chicken … English terms dictionary
chicken-and-egg — adjective only before noun a chicken and egg situation is one where it is impossible to say which of two things happened first or caused the other to happen … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
chicken-and-egg — [chik ənənd eg′] adj. of or relating to a paradoxical situation, question, etc. involving two factors, each of which in turn causes or leads to the other … English World dictionary
chicken-and-egg — /chik euhn euhn eg , euhnd /, adj. of, pertaining to, or being a dilemma of which of two things came first or of which is the cause and which the effect: a chicken and egg question of whether matter or energy is the basis of the universe. Also,… … Universalium
chicken-and-egg — ˌchik(ə̇)nən(d)¦eg, ¦āg adjective Etymology: so called from the proverbial question “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” : of, relating to, or being a cause and effect dilemma * * * adj used to describe a situation in which it is difficult … Useful english dictionary
chicken-and-egg — UK / US adjective [only before noun] a chicken and egg situation is one where it is impossible to say which of two things happened first or caused the other to happen • Etymology: From the question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? ,… … English dictionary
chicken-and-egg situation — One in which it is impossible to tell which is the cause and which the effect • • • Main Entry: ↑chick … Useful english dictionary
chicken-and-egg — denoting a situation in which each of two things appears to be necessary to the other. [from the question ‘Which came first, the chicken or the egg?’] → chicken … English new terms dictionary
(a) chicken and egg situation — a situation in which it is impossible to say which of two things existed first and which caused the other. It s a chicken and egg situation I don t know whether I was bad at the sciences because I wasn t interested in them or not interested in… … New idioms dictionary
(a) chicken-and-egg situation — a ˌchicken and ˈegg situation, problem, etc. idiom a situation in which it is difficult to tell which one of two things was the cause of the other Main entry: ↑chickenidiom … Useful english dictionary
