plight
1 Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to pledge (one's troth) in engagement to marry.
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to bind (someone) by a pledge, especially of marriage.
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to give in pledge, as one's word, or to pledge, as one's honor.
noun
verb
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to give or pledge (one's word)
he plighted his word to attempt it
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to promise formally or pledge (allegiance, support, etc)
to plight aid
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to make a promise of marriage
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to give one's solemn promise
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noun
noun
Related Words
See predicament.
Other Word Forms
- plighter noun
- unplighted adjective
Etymology
Origin of plight1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English plit “fold, condition, bad condition,” from Anglo-French (cognate with Middle French pleit plait ) “fold, manner of folding, condition”; spelling apparently influenced by plight 2 in obsolete sense “danger”
Origin of plight2
First recorded before 1000; (noun) Middle English; Old English pliht “danger, risk”; cognate with Dutch plicht, German Pflicht “duty, obligation”; (verb) Middle English plighten, Old English plihtan (derivative of the noun) “to endanger, risk, pledge”; cognate with Old High German phlichten “to engage oneself,” Middle Dutch plihten “to guarantee”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Louise, 15, is “afflicted by the plight of the middle child,” in that everyone ignores her even in the best of times.
The four men who became the film’s principal subjects had been using the cellphones for several years as they fought to bring attention to their plight.
From Los Angeles Times
Told baldness is generally seen as an aesthetic problem covered out-of-pocket, Lee retorted that young people with thinning hair view their plight as a “matter of survival.”
Iranians know the source of their economic plight.
At this moment, somewhere on the internet, “Stranger Things” fans are rabidly and rapidly giving their feedback on how the series resolved the years-long plight of horrors faced by their favorite ragtag troop from Hawkins.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
