Meaning & use
plight
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Meanings
nounsingular
A bad or dangerous situation that someone is stuck in and finds hard to escape from.
Grammar: Normally used with the or a possessive: the plight of refugees; their plight.
Patterns
- the plight of someone
- someone's plight
The documentary highlights the plight of families left homeless by the flood.
Nobody seemed to care about the plight of the stray dogs.
Moved by her plight, neighbors brought food and blankets.
verbtransitivearchaicliterary
To promise solemnly, especially to give your loyalty or love.
Grammar: Takes an object, usually troth or word: plight your troth.
Patterns
- plight your troth to someone
In the old ballad, the knight plights his troth to a farmer's daughter.
They plighted their love beneath the old oak tree.
He plighted his word that he would return before winter.
Word forms
| plural | plights |
|---|
Common combinations
- the plight of
- The plight of the miners shocked the whole country.
- a sorry plight
- After the storm, the village was in a sorry plight.
- highlight the plight
- The concert aims to highlight the plight of local farmers.
- ease the plight
- New funding may ease the plight of people living on the street.
- sympathize with someone's plight
- I sympathize with her plight, but I cannot change the rules.
Synonyms and how they differ
- predicament
- A predicament is a tricky spot that may be awkward or even funny, while plight sounds more serious and sad.
- hardship
- Hardship names the suffering itself, whereas plight names the unfortunate situation a person is caught in.
- dilemma
- A dilemma is a hard choice between options; a plight does not require a choice.
- quandary
- Quandary stresses uncertainty about what to do, not the misery of the situation.
Opposites
Word family
- plighted adjective
- promised or pledged, as in plighted troth
Commonly confused: plight or flight? plight or plite?
plight vs flight
Flight is traveling by air or running away; plight is a hard situation. They differ only in the first letter, so check which meaning you want.
plight vs plite
This is not a standard word; plight is the correct spelling.
Practice
The charity wants to raise awareness of the ___ of elderly people living alone.
Choose one answer.
Plight fits the phrase the plight of, meaning their difficult situation. Blight is a harmful condition of plants and does not take this pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “plight”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.