predicament

(prĭ-dĭk'ə-mənt)

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.]

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).