plight.

A difficult or distressing situation from which escape or improvement is hard.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• desperate plight
• plight of refugees

On the page

The report drew attention to the residents' plight.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Singular plight; plural plights. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common.