plight¹ Definition
plight (plīt)
plight² Definition
plight (plīt)
transitive verb
to pledge or promise, or bind by a pledge
Etymology: ME plihten < OE plihtan, to pledge, expose to danger < pliht, a pledge, danger, akin to pleon, to risk, Ger pflicht, duty
noun
Archaic a pledge
plight² Idioms
plight one's troth
- Obsolete to pledge one's truth, or one's word
- to make a promise of marriage
plight Synonyms
plight
n.
plight Usage Examples
Preposition: of
- refugee: The plight of the refugees in Lebanon is well known.
- homeless: The plight of the homeless prompted him to open the Cardinal Hume Center for young people at risk.
- pensioner: It suggests nothing that will help the plight of pensioners.
- orphan: It is a school based charity set up in response to the plight of orphans in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya.
- seeker: A moving, personal story of the plight of asylum seekers, surprisingly.
- turtle: The plight of sea turtles is well known and all seven species are thought to be endangered.
Converse of subject
- move: Mark was deeply moved by the plight of the community.
- touch: He was evidently touched by the plight of poor visitors.
Converse of object
- worsen: Now He is forced to behold her steadily worsening plight.
- highlight: She has written to us to highlight the plight of domesticated Pet Rats in South Africa... .
- alleviate: However, we are not convinced of the adequacy of his efforts to alleviate the plight.
- publicize: Original here A few weeks ago, Oxfam launched a campaign to publicize the plight of coffee farmers in poor countries.
- ignore: For too long the world ignored the plight of the Iraqi people.
- ease: Outside the United Nations, pressure to do something to ease the plight of the Iraqi people was mounting.
Adjective modifier
- desperate: Dear Friends, Is your heart broken by the desperate plight of millions of children around the world?
- dreadful: The rescue of these two in their dreadful plight now needed the very acme of mountaineering skill.
- terrible: The subject of their heated exchanges is Job's terrible plight.
- sad: Justin didn't realize that his new menacing appearance was the cause of his sad plight.
- humanitarian: But we do care about the humanitarian plight of people in Afghanistan.
- sorry: They would otherwise have been in a sorry plight.

