Situation

How to spell situation

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce situation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does situation mean?

1. nounA set of circumstances or the state of affairs at a particular time.

Situation in a sentence

• The manager explained the financial situation to the whole team.

• We need to assess the situation before booking any flights.

Where does situation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb situare, meaning 'to place' or 'to set in a position', which was built on the noun situs, meaning 'site', 'position' or 'local arrangement'. Medieval Latin formed situatio to describe the state of being placed somewhere, and this passed into Old French as situation before reaching English in the early 1400s. Its earliest English sense was strictly physical, referring to the location or position of a place or building, and that geographical meaning is still felt in phrases like 'a house in a fine situation'. Over the following centuries the word broadened from a literal spot on the ground to an abstract set of circumstances or a state of affairs, which is how it is most often used today. The same situs root sits quietly inside the related words 'site' and 'situate', and the 'tu' that sounds like 'choo' is the spot where writers sometimes hesitate.

How the word is built

• situat- (from Latin situare: to place, set in position)
• -ion (noun-forming suffix denoting a state or condition)