predicament

noun pre·dic·a·ment \ pri-ˈdi-kə-mənt , sense 1 is usually ˈpre-di-kə- \

Updated on: 10 Apr 2018

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

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Examples of predicament in a Sentence

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
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
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
The governor has gotten himself into quite a predicament.
I don't know how to get out of the predicament I'm in.

Recent Examples of predicament from the Web

By comparison, the team’s current predicament of being stuck just short of championship contention but still boasting multiple assets does not seem so terrible.

— mike finger, San Antonio Express-News, "Spurs’ best deal might be one they didn’t make," 7 Apr. 2018
The predicament of Illinois soybean and corn farmer Chris Gould is probably more typical.

— shruti singh, Bloomberg.com, "Blindsided by China Tariffs, American Farmers Suddenly Face Huge Decision," 5 Apr. 2018
Facebook is in crisis mode, and all good CEOs approach crises as an opportunity to examine how their company got into its predicament and how their own leadership might have contributed to the problem.

— felix salmon, WIRED, "The Case for A Zuck-Free Facebook," 3 Apr. 2018
So the United States is in this peculiar predicament right.

— recode staff, Recode, "Full transcript: Chris Kirchhoff, formerly of the Pentagon’s Silicon Valley office, on Recode Decode," 31 Mar. 2018
If most heroes embrace the predicament of a young child in jeopardy, ours will hesitate.

— james mangold, latimes.com, "'Logan' director James Mangold on writing a superhero film without the trappings of the genre," 20 Feb. 2018
Master of None dramatized the predicament of minority actors with a plotline in which Dev must decide whether to pursue an acting job after he’s accidentally forwarded a casually racist email from a TV executive.

— molly fischer, The Cut, "The Great Awokening," 10 Jan. 2018
Through the unfiltered, plain lens of an iPhone, Sawyer’s predicament is frightfully ordinary.

— jake coyle, kansascity, "‘Unsane’ captures a tense and timely thriller through an iPhone’s lens | The Kansas City Star," 22 Mar. 2018
Through the unfiltered, plain lens of an iPhone, Sawyer’s predicament is frightfully ordinary.

— jake coyle, Detroit Free Press, "Review: iPhone-made ‘Unsane’ is a timely thriller," 22 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'predicament.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.