# plight

Pronunciation: say "PLYT" /plaɪt/

## Noun

1. A dire or unfortunate situation in which someone or something finds itself.
   - Simple: A very bad or unlucky situation that someone is in.
   - _The documentary drew attention to the plight of families left homeless by the floods._
   - _Few people in the capital understood the farmers' plight after three years of drought._
4. A moment or situation of danger or peril. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: A dangerous moment or situation.
5. Responsibility for whatever consequences follow; risk, danger, or peril. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: Danger or risk, or being the one who must answer for what happens.
6. Blame or guilt, or the fault, wrongdoing, sin, or crime that brings it. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: Blame for something wrong, or the wrong thing itself, like a sin or a crime.
7. A person's office, duty, or charge. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: Your job or duty, or the thing you are in charge of.

## Verb

2. To pledge one's troth, or a similar promise of faithfulness, as part of a marriage ceremony.
   - Simple: To make a promise of love and loyalty to the person you are marrying, during the wedding.
   - _In front of both families, the couple plighted their troth beneath the old oak tree._
   - _Couples who marry in the village chapel still plight their troth with the traditional words._
3. To promise oneself to someone, or to bind oneself to do something.
   - Simple: To promise yourself to someone, or to promise that you will do something.
   - _At nineteen she plighted herself to a sailor she had known for barely a month._
   - _Few young men were willing to plight themselves to serve a cause they barely understood._

## Verb

8. To expose something to risk, or to pledge it. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To put something at risk, or to offer it as a promise.
   - _To pay off the debt, he plighted his lands and everything else he owned._
   - _I plight my honor that every word of this account is true._
12. To weave, braid, fold, or plait something. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To weave, braid, or fold something.
   - _The girls sat by the fire to plight rushes into mats for the floor._
   - _The cloak had a collar of plighted linen, folded into tight ridges._

## Noun

9. A condition or state of any kind, not necessarily a bad one. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: The condition or state that someone or something is in, good or bad.
   - _Despite the long winter, the cattle were in excellent plight by spring._
   - _The soldiers returned from leave in good plight, rested and well fed._
10. Something exposed to risk or given as a pledge; a security. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Something you risk or give as a promise that you will keep your word.
   - _He left his sword with the innkeeper as a plight until he could settle his account._
   - _The duke kept the boy at court as a plight for his father's loyalty._
11. Good health. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Being healthy and well.
13. A network, a plait, or a fold; in rare uses, a garment. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A net, a braid, or a fold, or rarely a piece of clothing.
   - _The heavy velvet curtain fell in deep plights to the floor._
   - _Dew hung on the spider's web, a delicate plight of silk strung between two branches._

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 9, 11** — From Middle English plit ("fold, wrinkle, bad situation"), a blend of Middle English pliht ("risky promise, peril", from Old English pliht, "danger, risk") and Anglo-Norman plit ("fold, condition"), from Old French pleit, from Latin plicitum ("fold").
**Meanings 2–8, 10** — From Middle English plight ("risk, danger"), from Old English pliht ("peril, risk, danger"), from Proto-West Germanic *plihti ("care, responsibility, duty"). It is related to Old English pleoh ("risk, danger") and is cognate with Dutch plicht and German Pflicht ("duty").
**Meaning 12** — From Middle English plyghten, pliten, formed from the noun.
**Meaning 13** — From Middle English pliȝt, plight, from Anglo-Norman pleit ("pleat, fold"); see plait.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/plight (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).