# situation
## English
### Alternative forms

* scituation (hypercorrect, obsolete)

### Etymology

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”). By surface analysis, situate +‎ -ion.

### Pronunciation

* enPR: sĭt-yo͞o-ā'shən, sĭch-o͞o-ā'shən, IPA: /ˌsɪt.juːˈeɪ.ʃən/, /ˌsɪ.t͡ʃuˈ(w)eɪ.ʃən/
** Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -eɪʃən

### Noun

situation (plural situations)
* The combination of circumstances at a given moment; a state of affairs.
    The United States is in an awkward situation with debt default looming.
** 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC: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.
* 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 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:[…] 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.
* The place in which something is situated; a location.
** 1833, Thomas Hibbert, Robert Buist, The American Flower Garden Directory, page 142:[Hibíscus] speciòsus is the most splendid, and deserves a situation in every garden.
* Position or status with regard to conditions and circumstances.
* (UK) 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[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Chapter 3”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC: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.
* A difficult or unpleasant set of circumstances; a problem.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:difficult situation
    Boss, we've got a situation here…
* (US, film industry) An individual movie theater.
** 1950, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Ways and Means, Revenue Revision of 1950: Hearings Before the Committee, page 1805:This survey includes all key situations (including Paramount Gulf Theaters) as well as suburban runs and small-town situations.
** 1960, Motion Picture Herald, volumes 218-219, page 14:[…] Craterian theatre, with a full-scale advance campaign and preliminary screenings held for opinion-makers. Results and reactions will be closely studied and, if popular, the idea will be extended to other situations.
* (slang) An outfit, garment, or look.
    She is working some sort of amazing burgundy chiffon situation with gold piping.

#### Synonyms

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

#### Derived terms

* chicken-and-egg situation
* in-basket situation
* interesting situation
* limit situation
* no-win situation
* situational
* situationism
* situation room
* situationship
* situation theory
* special situation
* sticky situation

#### Related terms

* site
* situate
* situated

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### See also

* situation comedy, sitcom

### References

* 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, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “situation”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* “situation”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

### Anagrams

* titanious

## French
### Etymology

From situer +‎ -ation.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /si.tɥa.sjɔ̃/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

situation f (plural situations)
* situation (all meanings)

#### Derived terms

* comédie de situation
* comique de situation
* homme de la situation
* mise en situation
* situation intéressante

#### Descendants

* Polish: sytuacja, sytuacyja (Middle Polish), sytuacya (pre-reform orthography (1816))
** Kashubian: sytuacjô
* → Romanian: situație

### Further reading

* “situation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Interlingua
### Noun

situation (plural situationes)
* situation, state of affairs

## Swedish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /sɪtvaˈɧuːn/, /sɪtɵaˈɧuːn/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

situation c
* a situation

#### Synonyms

* läge

#### Related terms

* nödsituation
* situationskomedi

### References

* situation in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* situation in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* situation in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)