Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Predicament

Pre-dic′a-ment

,
Noun.
[Cf. F.
prédicament
, L.
praedicamentum
. See
Predicate
.]
1.
A class or kind described by any definite marks; hence, condition; particular situation or state; especially, an unfortunate or trying position or condition.
“O woeful sympathy; piteous predicament!”
Shak.
2.
(Logic)
See
Category
.
Syn. – Category; condition; state; plight.

Webster 1828 Edition


Predicament

PREDIC'AMENT

,
Noun.
[L. proedicamentum, from proedico, to affirm.]
1.
In logic, a category; a series or order of all the predicates or attributes contained under any genus. The school philosophers distribute all the objects of our thoughts and ideas into genera or classes, which the Greeks call categories, and the Latins predicaments. Aristotle made ten categories, viz. substance, quantity, quality, relation, action, passion, time, place, situation and habit.
2.
Class or kind described by any definite marks; hence, condition; particular situation or state.
We say, the country is in a singular predicament.

Definition 2024


predicament

predicament

English

Alternative forms

Noun

predicament (plural predicaments)

  1. A definite class, state or condition.
  2. An unfortunate or trying position or condition; a tight spot.
    • 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.

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:difficult situation

Related terms

Translations

See also

References

  • predicament in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • predicament in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • predicament at OneLook Dictionary Search