From Middle English plit (“fold, wrinkle, bad situation”), conflation of Middle English pliht, plight (“risky promise, peril”) (from Old English pliht "danger, risk"; see Etymology 2) and Anglo-Norman plit, plyte (“fold, condition”), from Old French pleit (“condition, manner of folding”) (from Vulgar Latin *plictum, from Latin plicitum (“fold”)).
Meanings
A dire or unfortunate situation.
Though we say we are quite clear about it and understand when someone uses the expression, unlike that other expression, maybe we're in the same plight with regard to them both. 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 243c:
Despite spending £1 billion of its own resources, that balanced budget became impossible and forced TfL to issue a 'Section 114' notice of impending financial plight and go to the government for support. 2020 June 17, Philip Haigh, “Capital for the capital to meet London's transport needs”, in Rail, page 28:
Gosling's plight worsened when he was soon shown a red card for a foul on Martin. 2011 December 10, Arindam Rej, “Norwich 4-2 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 24 Mar 2012:
(archaic) A (neutral) condition or state.
although hee live in as good plight and health as may be, yet he chafeth, he scoldeth, he brawleth, he fighteth, he sweareth, and biteth, as the most boistrous and tempestuous master of France[…]. 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 8, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
(obsolete) Good health.
All wayes shee sought him to restore to plight, / With herbs, with charms, with counsel, and with teares[…]. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
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plights
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lexicographic
Translations (39)
es atrenzo (unfortunate situation) · pt dificuldade (unfortunate situation) · sh stanje (condition or state) · bg притеснение (unfortunate situation) · no knipe (unfortunate situation) · it brutta situazione (unfortunate situation) · de Bedrängnis (unfortunate situation) · ml ദുരവസ്ഥ (unfortunate situation) · ru состоя́ние (condition or state) · nl benarde toestand (unfortunate situation) · de Notlage (unfortunate situation) · cs tíživá situace (unfortunate situation) · ru trúdnoje / bédstvennoje / otčájannoje položénije / situácija (unfortunate situation) · sh nedaća (unfortunate situation) · ca tràngol (unfortunate situation) · es calvario (unfortunate situation) · es aprieto (unfortunate situation) · hu nehéz/szorult/sanyarú helyzet (unfortunate situation) · ru положе́ние (condition or state) · cmn 险境 (unfortunate situation) · fr situation désespérée (unfortunate situation) · es tribulación (unfortunate situation) · hu megszorultság (unfortunate situation) · nl toestand (condition or state) · es viacrucis (unfortunate situation) · fi tilanne (condition or state) · de Zustand (condition or state) · no situasjon (unfortunate situation) · bg състояние (condition or state) · pl tarapaty (unfortunate situation) · pt apuro (unfortunate situation) · it difficoltà (unfortunate situation) · cs těžký úděl (unfortunate situation) · pl kłopoty (unfortunate situation) · cmn 困境 (unfortunate situation) · no kinkig (unfortunate situation) · fi ahdinko (unfortunate situation) · es crisis (unfortunate situation) · de Misere (unfortunate situation)
From Middle English plight (“risk, danger”), from Old English pliht (“peril, risk, danger, damage, plight”), from Proto-West Germanic *plihti (“care, responsibility, duty”). A suffixed form of the root represented by Old English pleoh (“risk, danger, hurt, peril"; also "responsibility”) and plēon (“to endanger, risk”). Akin to Old English plihtan (“to endanger, compromise”). Cognate with Scots plicht (“responsibility, plight”), Dutch plicht, Low German Plicht (“duty”), German Pflicht (“duty”), Danish pligt (“duty”), Yiddish פֿליכט (flikht). More at pledge.
Meanings
(dialectal) Responsibility for ensuing consequences; risk; danger; peril.
(dialectal) An instance of danger or peril; a dangerous moment or situation.
(archaic) That which is exposed to risk; that which is plighted or pledged; security; a gage; a pledge.
Haply, when I shall wed,
That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry
Half my love with him, half my care and duty c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
fi vakuus (that which is exposed to risk) · fi vastuu (that which is exposed to risk) · fi panos (that which is exposed to risk) · fi sijoitus (that which is exposed to risk) · fi lupaus (that which is exposed to risk)
From Middle English plight (“risk, danger”), from Old English pliht (“peril, risk, danger, damage, plight”), from Proto-West Germanic *plihti (“care, responsibility, duty”). A suffixed form of the root represented by Old English pleoh (“risk, danger, hurt, peril"; also "responsibility”) and plēon (“to endanger, risk”). Akin to Old English plihtan (“to endanger, compromise”). Cognate with Scots plicht (“responsibility, plight”), Dutch plicht, Low German Plicht (“duty”), German Pflicht (“duty”), Danish pligt (“duty”), Yiddish פֿליכט (flikht). More at pledge.
Meanings
(archaic, transitive) To nominate an object of value as a security against a promise; to pledge something, as one's faith, trust, allegiance, or something symbolic of this.
"Travel shall I and woo;
Plight me shall I a flower;
Try shall I my sword so good,
To my weal or my woe in the stour." 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 170:
(transitive) Specifically, to pledge (one's troth etc.) as part of a marriage ceremony.
(reflexive) To promise (oneself) to someone, or to do something.
I ask what I have done to deserve it, one daughter hobnobbing with radicals and the other planning to plight herself to a criminal. 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, page 226:
From Middle English plyghten, plyȝten, pleyȝten, pleiten, pliten, from the noun (see below).
Meanings
(obsolete) To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait.
ſhe wore a plighted Garmend of divers colours, 1670, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for James Allestry, […] , →OCLC, page 67:
From Middle English pliȝt, plight, plyt, pleit, from Anglo-Norman pleit (“pleat, fold”). More at plait.
Meanings
(obsolete) A network; a plait; a fold; rarely a garment.
Many a folded plight. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 26: