Adjacent Words

Situation definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SITUA'TION, n.
1. Position; seat; location in respect to something else. The situation of London is more favorable for foreign commerce than that of Paris. The situation of a stranger among people of habits differing from his own, cannot be pleasant.
2. State; condition. He enjoys a situation of ease and tranquility.
3. Circumstances; temporary state; used of persons in a dramatic scene.
4. Place; office. He has a situation in the war department, or under government.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the general state of things; the combination of circumstances at a given time; "the present international situation is dangerous"; "wondered how such a state of affairs had come about"; "eternal truths will be neither true nor eternal unless they have fresh meaning for every new social situation"- Franklin D.Roosevelt [syn: situation, state of affairs]
2: a condition or position in which you find yourself; "the unpleasant situation (or position) of having to choose between two evils"; "found herself in a very fortunate situation" [syn: situation, position]
3: a complex or critical or unusual difficulty; "the dangerous situation developed suddenly"; "that's quite a situation"; "no human situation is simple"
4: physical position in relation to the surroundings; "the sites are determined by highly specific sequences of nucleotides" [syn: site, situation]
5: a job in an organization; "he occupied a post in the treasury" [syn: position, post, berth, office, spot, billet, place, situation]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 15th century 1. a. the way in which something is placed in relation to its surroundings b. site c. archaic locality 2. archaic state of health 3. a. position or place of employment ; post, job b. position in life ; status 4. position with respect to conditions and circumstances <the military situation remains obscure> 5. a. relative position or combination of circumstances at a certain moment b. a critical, trying, or unusual state of affairs ; problem c. a particular or striking complex of affairs at a stage in the action of a narrative or drama

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a place and its surroundings (the house stands in a fine situation). 2 a set of circumstances; a position in which one finds oneself; a state of affairs (came out of a difficult situation with credit). 3 an employee's position or job. 4 a critical point or complication in a drama. Phrases and idioms: situation comedy a comedy in which the humour derives from the situations the characters are placed in. situations vacant (or wanted) headings of lists of employment offered and sought. Derivatives: situational adj. Etymology: ME f. F situation or med.L situatio (as SITUATE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Situation Sit`u*a"tion, n. [LL. situatio: cf. F. situation.] 1. Manner in which an object is placed; location, esp. as related to something else; position; locality site; as, a house in a pleasant situation. 2. Position, as regards the conditions and circumstances of the case. A situation of the greatest ease and tranquillity. --Rogers. 3. Relative position; circumstances; temporary state or relation at a moment of action which excites interest, as of persons in a dramatic scene. There's situation for you! there's an heroic group! --Sheridan. 4. Permanent position or employment; place; office; as, a situation in a store; a situation under government. Syn: State; position; seat; site; station; post; place; office; condition; case; plight. See State.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(situations) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. You use situation to refer generally to what is happening in a particular place at a particular time, or to refer to what is happening to you. Army officers said the situation was under control... She's in a hopeless situation... N-COUNT: usu with supp, oft poss N 2. The situation of a building or town is the kind of surroundings that it has. (FORMAL) The garden is in a beautiful situation on top of a fold in the rolling Hampshire landscape. = location N-COUNT: usu supp N 3. Situations Vacant is the title of a column or page in a newspaper where jobs are advertised. (mainly BRIT; in AM, use Employment) PHRASE: oft PHR n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Place, locality, station, location, site, position, seat, ground, spot. 2. Condition, state, plight, case, predicament, category, circumstances. 3. Post, station, office, employment, place.

Moby Thesaurus

Anschauung, abode, alentours, allocation, ambience, ambit, angle, angle of vision, appointment, area, assignment, bargain, basis, bearings, bench mark, berth, billet, borderlands, capacity, case, character, circle, circuit, circumambiencies, circumjacencies, circumstance, circumstances, collocation, compass, condition, connection, context, deployment, deposit, deposition, disposition, district, emplacement, employment, engagement, entourage, environing circumstances, environment, environs, estate, eye, fix, footing, frame of reference, framework, gestalt, gestation, gig, gravidity, habitat, hole, incumbency, jam, job, kettle of fish, lading, latitude and longitude, lieu, light, loading, locale, locality, localization, locating, location, locus, lot, mental outlook, milieu, modality, mode, moonlighting, neighborhood, office, opening, outlook, outposts, outskirts, packing, pass, perimeter, periphery, pickle, picture, pinpoint, pinpointing, place, placement, placing, plight, point, point of view, position, positioning, post, posting, posture, precincts, predicament, purlieus, putting, rank, reference system, regard, region, reposition, respect, second job, service, setting, side, sight, site, situs, slant, spot, spotting, stand, standing, standpoint, state, state of affairs, station, stationing, status, status quo, stead, storage, stowage, suburbs, surroundings, system, tenure, total environment, universe, vacancy, vicinage, vicinity, view, viewpoint, where, whereabout, whereabouts