predicament

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(prĭ-dĭk'ə-mənt) pronunciation
n.
  1. A situation, especially an unpleasant, troublesome, or trying one, from which extrication is difficult. See Usage Note at dilemma.
  2. Logic. One of the basic states or classifications described by Aristotle into which all things can be placed; a category.

[Middle English, class, category, from Old French, from Late Latin praedicāmentum (translation of Greek katēgoriā , from katēgoreuein, to speak against, signify, predicate), from Latin praedicāre, to proclaim publicly, predicate. See preach.]

predicamental pre·dic'a·men'tal (-mĕn'tl) adj.
predicamentally pre·dic'a·men'tal·ly adv.

SYNONYMS   predicament, plight, quandary, jam, fix, pickle. These nouns refer to a situation from which it is difficult to free oneself. A predicament is a problematic situation about which one does not know what to do: "Werner finds himself suddenly in a most awkward predicament" (Thomas Carlyle). A plight is a bad or unfortunate situation: The report examined the plight of homeless people. A quandary is a state of perplexity, especially about what course of action to take: "Having captured our men, we were in a quandary how to keep them" (Theodore Roosevelt). Jam and fix are less formal terms that refer to predicaments from which it is difficult to escape: kids who were in a jam with the authorities; "If we get left on this wreck we are in a fix" (Mark Twain). An informal term, a pickle is a disagreeable, embarrassing, or troublesome predicament: "I could see no way out of the pickle I was in" (Robert Louis Stevenson).


Roget's Thesaurus:

predicament

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noun

    A difficult, often embarrassing situation or condition: box1, corner, deep water, difficulty, dilemma, Dutch, fix, hole, hot spot, hot water, jam, plight1, quagmire, scrape, soup, trouble. Informal bind, pickle, spot. See easy/hard.

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n

Definition: difficult situation
Antonyms: fix, good fortune, solution

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A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce


n.

The wage of consistency.


Word Tutor:

predicament

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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A difficult situation or plight.

pronunciation No matter how desperate the predicament is, I'm always very much in earnest about clutching my cane, straightening my derby hat and fixing my tie, even though I have just landed on my head. — Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977)

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  See crossword solutions for the clue Predicament.
Translations:

Predicament

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - vanskelig stilling

Nederlands (Dutch)
probleemsituatie, dilemma

Français (French)
n. - situation difficile

Deutsch (German)
n. - Dilemma, Zwangslage

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - δύσκολη θέση ή κατάσταση (κν. στρίμωγμα, ζόρισμα)

Italiano (Italian)
situazione difficile, imbroglio, imbarazzo, predicament, (fil. Arist.) categoria

Português (Portuguese)
n. - predição (f)

Русский (Russian)
затруднительное положение

Español (Spanish)
n. - apuro, predicamento

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - obehaglig belägenhet (tillstånd), predikament

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
状态, 困局, 穷境

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 狀態, 困局, 窮境

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 곤경 , 궁지

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 状態, 苦境, 窮地, 断定されたもの, 窮状

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) أزمكه لا يجد لها المرء حلا, مأزق, ورطه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מצב קשה, מצב ביש, מצב מביך, בתורת ההיגיון: קטיגוריה‬


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