predicament

pre·dic·a·ment

noun \pri-ˈdi-kə-mənt, 1 is usually ˈpre-di-kə-\

Definition of PREDICAMENT

1

: the character, status, or classification assigned by a predication; specifically : category 1

2

: condition, state; especially : a difficult, perplexing, or trying situation

Examples of PREDICAMENT

1. The governor has gotten himself into quite a predicament.
2. I don't know how to get out of the predicament I'm in.
3. The captain of archers fidgeted and coughed and rolled his eyes at his men, as if such cupidity and dishonor were an inevitable but minor aspect of the human predicament … —Michael Chabon, New York Times Magazine, 6 May 2007
4. We saw photographs that week of buildings burning, stunned onlookers, dust-covered firemen. Very few pictures conveyed the fact that people just like us, our fellow passengers on the subway, suddenly found themselves in a mortal predicament and many died horribly. —Garrison Keillor, New York Times Book Review, 3 Sept. 2006
5. The President found himself in the backwash of earlier deals, and the demands of secrecy made his predicament the more vexing. —Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters, 1988

Origin of PREDICAMENT

Middle English, from Late Latin praedicamentum, from praedicare (see ²predicate)

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to PREDICAMENT

Synonyms

bind, box, catch-22, corner, dilemma, fix, hole, impasse, jackpot [chiefly West], jam, mire, pickle, quagmire, rabbit hole, rattrap, spot, sticky wicket, swamp, kettle of fish

Related Words

difficulty, node; hot water, soup; pinch, plight, quandary, scrape, trouble; deadlock, halt, logjam, stalemate, standstill; clutch, crisis, crossroad, emergency, exigency, juncture, strait