predicament

• prædicament (obsolete)

From Middle English predicament, from Old French predicament and Medieval Latin prēdicāmentum, from Late Latin praedicāmentum (“that which is predicated, a predicament, category”).

• IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈdɪkəmənt/

• Audio (Southern England)

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predicament (plural predicaments)

1. A definite class, state or condition.
2. An unfortunate or trying position or condition.

   Synonyms: tight spot; see also Thesaurus:difficult situation

   • 1978, Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, page xv (20th edition):

     Culture, for me, is the effort to provide a coherent set of answers to the existential predicaments that confront all human beings in the passage of their life.

   • 2011 December 10, Marc Higginson, “Bolton 1 - 2 Aston Villa”, in BBC Sport‎:

     The Midlanders will hope the victory will kickstart a campaign that looked to have hit the buffers, but the sense of trepidation enveloping the Reebok Stadium heading into the new year underlines the seriousness of the predicament facing Owen Coyle's men.

3. (logic) That which is predicated; a category.

• preach
• predicate

• can of worms
• difficulty
• kettle of fish
• tight spot
• trouble

• “predicament”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “predicament”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “predicament”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Borrowed from French prédicament, from Old French predicament, from Late Latin praedicāmentum.

predicament n (plural predicamente)

1. predicament