| 释义 |
predicament|prɪˈdɪkəmənt|
Also 7 præ-.
[ad. late L. prædicāmentum (Augustine) something predicated, a predicament, a quality (transl. Gr. κατηγορία of Aristotle), f. prædicāre: see predicate v. and -ment. So F. prédicament (13th c. in Hatz.-Darm.).]
1. That which is predicated or asserted; spec. in Logic, (in pl.) the ten categories or classes of predications formed by Aristotle: see category 1.
c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 195 Þese foolis moten lerne predicamentis and ten kyndis of þingis, and þanne þei moun se her foli. 1451J. Capgrave Life St. Aug. (E.E.T.S.) 11 Þe book of Aristotle cleped his Cathegories, we clepe hem at þese dayes þe Predicamentis. 1579Fulke Refut. Rastel 752 He remembreth what the Predicament Vbi meaneth. 1628Milton Vac. Exerc., Then Ens is represented as Father of the Prædicaments his ten Sons. 1655Culpepper Riverius x. ix. 308 Heat is not the chief agent in breeding of Worms, which are in the prædicaments of substance, and heat is but an accident. 1788Reid Aristotle's Log. vi. §1. 135 The predicaments and predicables have a like title to our veneration as antiquities. 1801Woodhouse in Phil. Trans. XCI. 99 Bringing x√-1 under the predicament of quantity. 1864Bowen Logic v. 116 Having determined the Second Intentions of Predicates, which are the Predicables, Aristotle attempted to carry the analysis of Judgments one step farther by determining their First Intentions, and was thus led to form his celebrated list of the ten Categories or Predicaments, [in which] he inquired how many and what particular things may be predicated of any Subject.
2. A class about which a particular statement is made; = category 2.
a1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV 248 b, We beyng called reasonable creatures and in that predicament, compared and ioyned with Angelles. 1597Howson Serm. 24 Dec. 26 Buying and selling are both in a [= one] predicament (for nothing is bought but that which is sold, & contra). 1618Ld. Sheffield in Fortescue Papers (Camden) 52 Wherof some scandall hath fallne upon me as conceived to bee in the same predicamente. 1749Fielding Tom Jones ix. iii, Irish ladies of strict virtue, and many Northern lasses of the same predicament. 1845Napier Conq. Scinde ii. i. 227 The Beloochs holding the forts were part of these bands; they belonged to the same predicament.
3. State of being; condition, situation, position; esp. an unpleasant, trying, or dangerous situation.
1586A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 141 Supposing that..I should still haue found you in the same predicament, without alteration. 1598Barret Theor. Warres ii. i. 27 This squadron standeth in such predicament, that any Gentleman..may serue as soldier in the same. 1645Milton Tetrach. Wks. 1851 IV. 221 Sin is not in a predicament to be measur'd and modify'd, but is alwaies an excesse. 1771Junius Lett. I. (1820) 260 There is a proverb concerning persons in the predicament of this gentleman. 1827Scott Highl. Widow v, His deep sense of the deceit which had been practised on him, and of the cruel predicament to which he was reduced. 1865Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xx. vii. (1872) IX. 152 Werner finds himself suddenly in a most awkward predicament. 1882O'Donovan Merv Oasis I. 325 Here was a predicament, inasmuch as I was in a desperate hurry.
†4. Preaching, ‘predication’. Obs. rare—1.
1765Mumbo Chumbo 12 To 'stablish you in this, it is the Drift Of Solomon's most wise Predicament.
Hence preˈdicamentist (humorous nonce-wd.), one who is in a predicament.
1827Blackw. Mag. XXI. 895 Of the three classes of Predicamentists, the fiercest are the Plucked. |