situation

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See also: Situation

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle French situation, from Medieval Latin situatio (“position, situation”), from situare (“to locate, place”), from Latin situs (“a site”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • enPR: sĭt-yo͞o-ā'shən, IPA(key): /sɪtjuːˈeɪʃən/, /sɪtʃuˈ(w)eɪʃən/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun[edit]

situation (plural situations)

  1. The way in which something is positioned vis-à-vis its surroundings.
    The Botanical Gardens are in a delightful situation on the river bank.
    • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows:
      ...he being naturally an underground animal by birth and breeding, the situation of Badger's house exactly suited him and made him feel at home; while the Rat, who slept every night in a bedroom the windows of which opened on a breezy river, naturally felt the atmosphere still and oppressive.
  2. The place in which something is situated; a location.
    • 1833, Thomas Hibbert and Robert Buist, The American Flower Garden Directory, page 142:
      [Hibíscus] speciòsus is the most splendid, and deserves a situation in every garden.
  3. Position or status with regard to conditions and circumstances.
  4. The combination of circumstances at a given moment; a state of affairs.
    The United States is in an awkward situation with debt default looming.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:
      Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.
  5. (Britain) A position of employment; a post.
    • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, Penguin 2006, page 78:
      When he was nineteen, he suddenly left the 'Co-op' office, and got a situation in Nottingham.
    • 1946, Vaughn Horton, Denver Darling, Milt Gabler, Choo Choo Ch'Boogie:
      You take a morning paper from the top of the stack
      And read the situations from the front to the back
      The only job that's open need a man with a knack
      So put it right back in the rack Jack.
  6. A difficult or unpleasant set of circumstances; a problem.
    Boss, we've got a situation here...

Synonyms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  • Source for the definitions:
    • Dictionary.com. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. [1] (accessed: March 10, 2007).
  • situation in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • situation in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • situation at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams[edit]

French[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

situation f (plural situations)

  1. situation (all meanings)

Further reading[edit]

Swedish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /sɪtvaˈɧuːn/, /sɪtɵaˈɧuːn/
  • Audio
    		(file)

Noun[edit]

situation c

  1. a situation

Declension[edit]

Declension of situation 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative situation situationen situationer situationerna
Genitive situations situationens situationers situationernas

Related terms[edit]

Synonyms[edit]

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