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Definition the Prisoner's Dilemma in American English

the Prisoner's Dilemma noun

noun
1

the theory that if 2 people are being interrogated separately for the same crime, they are more likely to betray each other in return for no prison sentence for the person who speaks and a longer sentence for the other than to stay silent and both get a shorter sentence

Example

President Donald Trump and his former attorney Michael Cohen are currently playing out the Prisoner's Dilemma in the most public and consequential way possible.

Definition the Prisoner's Dilemma in American English