predicament synonyms

predicament

n.

quandary, plight, dilemma, strait, puzzle, perplexity, scrape, corner, hole, impasse, tight situation, state, condition, position, circumstance, mess, muddle, imbroglio, exigency, deadlock, pinch, crisis, difficulty, fix*, pickle*, bind*, hot water*, pretty kettle of fish*, jam*, spot*; see also difficulty 1, 2.

predicament implies a complicated, perplexing situation from which it is difficult to disentangle oneself; dilemma implies a predicament necessitating a choice between equally disagreeable alternatives; quandary emphasizes a state of great perplexity and uncertainty as to what to do; plight implies a distressing or unfortunate situation; fix and pickle are both colloquial terms loosely interchangeable with any of the preceding, although more precisely fix is equivalent to predicament and pickle, to plight

Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.