situation

• scituation (hyper‐correct, obsolete)

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

• enPR: sĭt-yo͞o-ā'shən, IPA^(key): /sɪtjuːˈeɪʃən/, /sɪtʃuˈ(w)eɪʃən/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

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, dated) A position of employment; a post.
   • 1843, Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol:

     ‘Let me hear another sound from you,’ said Scrooge, ‘and you’ll keep your Christmas by losing your situation!

   • 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...

• (combination of circumstances): condition, set up; see also Thesaurus:state

• site
• situate
• situated
• situationism

• situation comedy, sitcom

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

• titanious

situer +‎ -ation

• IPA^(key): /si.tɥa.sjɔ̃/

• audio

  (file)

situation f (plural situations)

1. situation (all meanings)

• “situation” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

situation (plural situationes)

1. situation, state of affairs

• IPA^(key): /sɪtvaˈɧuːn/, /sɪtɵaˈɧuːn/

• Audio

  (file)

situation c

1. a situation

• läge

• nödsituation
• situationskomik