plight
A dire or unfortunate situationA dire or unfortunate situation.
Recorded US: Neskaya, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
» He was not sympathetic to my plight.
mailohilohi · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRTranslations
7 languagesBy meaning 2
Examples
6 sentencesHe was not sympathetic to my plight.
She was not sympathetic to my plight.
The documentary is meant to raise consciousness about the plight of the poor.
ruЭтот документальный фильм призван поднять тему тяжёлого положения бедных. — astynk
deDie Dokumentation ist dazu gedacht, die Notlage der Armen stärker ins Bewusstsein zu rücken. — samueldora
Meaning
9 sensesA dire or unfortunate situation.
Misere, Notlage, Bedrängnis
(archaic)A (neutral) condition or state.
Zustand
положе́ниеpoložénije, состоя́ниеsostojánije
(obsolete)Good health.
More meanings 6
(dialectal)Responsibility for ensuing consequences; risk; danger; peril.
(dialectal)An instance of danger or peril; a dangerous moment or situation.
(dialectal)Blame; culpability; fault; wrong-doing; sin; crime.
(dialectal)One's office; duty; charge.
(archaic)That which is exposed to risk; that which is plighted or pledged; security; a gage; a pledge.
(obsolete)A network; a plait; a fold; rarely a garment.
- a situation from which extrication is difficult especially an unpleasant or trying one
- a solemn pledge of fidelity
Origin
From Middle English plit (“fold, wrinkle, bad situation”), conflation of Middle English plFrom Middle English plit (“fold, wrinkle, bad situation”), conflation of Middle English pliht, plight (“risky promise, peril”) (from Old English pliht "danger, risk"; see Etymology 2) and Anglo-Norman plit, plyte (“fold, condition”), from Old French pleit (“condition, manner of folding”) (from Vulgar Latin *plictum, from Latin plicitum (“fold”)).
From Middle English plight (“risk, danger”), from Old English pliht (“peril, risk, danger, damage, plight”), from Proto-West Germanic *plihti (“care, responsibility, duty”). A suffixed form of the root represented by Old English pleoh (“risk, danger, hurt, peril"; also "responsibility”) and plēon (“to endanger, risk”). Akin to Old English plihtan (“to endanger, compromise”). Cognate with Scots plicht (“responsibility, plight”), Dutch plicht, Low German Plicht (“duty”), German Pflicht (“duty”), Danish pligt (“duty”), Yiddish פֿליכט (flikht). More at pledge.
From Middle English pliȝt, plight, plyt, pleit, from Anglo-Norman pleit (“pleat, fold”). More at plait.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: plightsSynonyms
3 synonyms- a situation from which extrication is difficult especially an unpleasant or trying one:predicamentquandary
- a solemn pledge of fidelity:troth
Word family
7 related wordsSee also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.