Situational

How to spell situational

11 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce situational

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does situational mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to or determined by the particular circumstances of a moment rather than by fixed rules or traits.

Situational in a sentence

• The training course focused on situational awareness for drivers.

• Managers were taught to adopt a situational approach rather than one rigid style.

Where does situational come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin situs, meaning a 'position', 'placement', or 'site', the same root that gives us the everyday word 'site'. From situs medieval Latin built the verb situare, 'to place' or 'to set in position', which English borrowed in the 1500s as 'situate'. The noun 'situation', describing the way something is placed or the set of circumstances surrounding it, followed soon after through French. By the nineteenth century writers added the adjective ending -al to produce 'situational', meaning 'relating to a particular set of circumstances'. The word became especially common in twentieth-century psychology and management, as in 'situational awareness' and 'situational leadership', where it contrasts a person's behaviour in the moment with their fixed traits. The spelling trap lives in the middle: the letters 'tu' are pronounced like 'chu', which tempts writers to misspell the sound rather than trust the spelling that comes straight from 'situation'.

How the word is built

• situ- (from Latin situs: position, site)
• -ate (verb-forming)
• -ion (noun-forming)
• -al (adjective-forming)