SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
predicament
noun
A difficult or awkward situation.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Difficult situation
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topDilemma usually involves difficult alternatives, and impasse emphasizes blocked progress. Fix, bind, and jam are informal.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See predicament in use
The lost key left them in an awkward predicament.
Three unanswered messages from the venue manager seemed ominous to the organizers of a weekend craft fair. When they learned that the hall would be unavailable, they faced a predicament: vendors were arriving in two days, and no replacement space had been confirmed.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license