plight

noun

/plaɪt/

[singular]

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a difficult and sad situation
- the plight of the homeless
- The African elephant is in a desperate plight.
Extra Examples
- the desperate plight of flood victims
- the plight of the 1.5 million refugees
- A neighbour heard of her plight and offered to help.
- He has expressed deep concern about the plight of the flood victims.
- There are better ways to highlight the plight of the homeless.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- desperate
- sad
- sorry
- …
verb + plight
- recognize
- see
- understand
- …
preposition
- plight of
See full entry
Word Originnoun Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French plit ‘fold’. The -gh- spelling is by association with plight (verb).

plight

verb

/plaɪt/

Word Originverb Old English plihtan ‘endanger’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch plicht and German Pflicht ‘duty’. The current sense is recorded only from Middle English, but is probably original, in view of the related Germanic words.

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they plight	/plaɪt/ /plaɪt/
he / she / it plights	/plaɪts/ /plaɪts/
past simple plighted	/ˈplaɪtɪd/ /ˈplaɪtɪd/
past participle plighted	/ˈplaɪtɪd/ /ˈplaɪtɪd/
-ing form plighting	/ˈplaɪtɪŋ/ /ˈplaɪtɪŋ/

Idioms

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Idioms

plight your troth

(old use or humorous) to make a promise to a person saying that you will marry them; to marry somebody