Predicament
[prɪ'dɪkəm(ə)nt] or [prɪ'dɪkəmənt]
Definition
(noun.) a situation from which extrication is difficult especially an unpleasant or trying one; 'finds himself in a most awkward predicament'; 'the woeful plight of homeless people'.
Checker: Otis--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A class or kind described by any definite marks; hence, condition; particular situation or state; especially, an unfortunate or trying position or condition.
(n.) See Category.
Editor: Verna
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Situation (especially a bad situation), condition, state, position, posture, attitude, plight, case.[2]. [Colloquial.] Pass, pinch, push, extremity, exigency, emergency, conjuncture.[3]. (Logic.) Category, class.
Typed by Carolyn
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Difficulty, try, ing_position, state, condition, dilemma, situation,[SeeDILEMMA]
Checker: Mae
Definition
n. (logic) one of the classes or categories which include all predicables: condition: an unfortunate or trying position.—adj. Predicamen′tal.
Checked by Carmen
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. The wage of consistency.
Edited by Julia
Examples
- I'm not playing, I never do, said Frank, dismayed at the sentimental predicament out of which he was to rescue the absurd couple. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Being some time afterwards in such a predicament, and having promised to apply to him, I sent to him for a hundred guineas. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- This is a distressing predicament for these young people,' thought Mr. Pickwick, as he dressed himself next morning. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Very little of the beef was done either; and the ham (which was also from the German-sausage shop round the corner) was in a similar predicament. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- But the American cuckoo is in this predicament, for she makes her own nest and has eggs and young successively hatched, all at the same time. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- As we were to learn later, this precaution saved us from dire predicament, and was eventually the means of our salvation. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- In this predicament he ventured on the hazardous experiment of taking his steam-vessel by sea, and successfully accomplished his voyage from New York to Delaware. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- The same people who with daily insistence say that innovators ignore facts are in the absurd predicament of trying to still human wants with petty taboos. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- This vast mysterious Wall Street world of tips and deals--might she not find in it the means of escape from her dreary predicament? Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
Edited by Annabel