Wiktionary
n. Any situation that is certain to end in failure or in which any favourable outcome is impossible.
WordNet
n. a situation in which a favorable outcome is impossible; you are bound to lose whatever you do
Wikipedia
A no-win situation, also called a “lose-lose situation”, is one where a person has choices, but no choice leads to a net gain. For example, if an executioner offers the condemned the choice of death by being hung, shot, or poisoned. All choices lead to death, the condemned is in a no-win situation. This bleak situation gives the chooser no room: whichever choice is made the person making it will lose their life. Less drastic situations may also be considered no-win situations - if one has a choice for lunch between a ham sandwich and a roast beef sandwich, but is a vegetarian or has a wheat allergy, that might be considered a no-win situation.
Usage examples of "no-win situation".
The odds against the health and lives of the merchantmen surviving, respectively, their living conditions and the attentions of the enemy were high indeed: theirs was a classic no-win situation.
You got yourself in an almost no-win situation there where you had very little to win and a hell of a lot to lose.
It was so like Jones to search for the positives in a no-win situation.
In Raiders we finally see him have to deal with a no-win situation.
On this planet, metapsychic operants may be in a no-win situation.