predicament

• prædicament (chiefly obsolete)

From Old French, from Late Latin praedicamentum (“that which is predicated, a predicament, category, Medieval Latin also a preaching, discourse”), from Latin praedicare (“to declare, proclaim, predicate”); see predicate.

• IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈdɪkəmənt/

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

• See also Thesaurus:difficult situation

• preach
• predicate

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

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