plight

Meaning

Noun

1. A dire or unfortunate situation.
2. A (neutral) condition or state.
3. (obsolete) Good health.

Verb

1. To expose to risk; to pledge.
2. Specifically, to pledge (one's troth etc.) as part of a marriage ceremony.
3. To promise (oneself) to someone, or to do something.

Verb

To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/plaɪt/

Etymology

From Middle English plit (“fold, wrinkle, bad situation”), conflation of Middle English pliht, plight (“risky promise, peril”) (from Old English pliht "danger, risk") and Anglo-Norman plit, plyte (“fold, condition”), from Old French pleit (“condition, manner of folding”) (from Vulgar Latin *plictum, from Latin plicitum (“fold”)).