different between situation vs potluck

English

Alternative forms

• scituation (hyper?correct, 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”). Equivalent to situate +? -ion

Pronunciation

• enPR: s?t-yo?o-?'sh?n, s?ch-o?o-?'sh?n, IPA^(key): /s?tju??e???n/, /s?t?u?(w)e???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

situation (plural situations)

1. The combination of circumstances at a given moment; a state of affairs.
2. The way in which something is positioned vis-à-vis its surroundings.
   • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows:

     ...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.

3. The place in which something is situated; a location.
   • 1833, Thomas Hibbert and Robert Buist, The American Flower Garden Directory, page 142:

     [Hibíscus] speciòsus is the most splendid, and deserves a situation in every garden.

4. Position or status with regard to conditions and circumstances.
5. (Britain) A position of employment; a post.
   • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, Penguin 2006, page 78:

     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.

6. A difficult or unpleasant set of circumstances; a problem.

   Boss, we've got a situation here...

Synonyms

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

Related terms

• site
• situate
• situated
• situationism

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. [1] (accessed: March 10, 2007).
• situation in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• situation in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• situation at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• titanious

French

Etymology

situer +? -ation

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /si.t?a.sj??/

Noun

situation f (plural situations)

1. situation (all meanings)

Derived terms

• mise en situation
• situation intéressante

Descendants

• ? Romanian: situa?ie

Further reading

• “situation” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Interlingua

Noun

situation (plural situationes)

1. situation, state of affairs

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s?tva??u?n/, /s?t?a??u?n/

Noun

situation c

1. a situation

Declension

Synonyms

• läge

Related terms

• nödsituation
• situationskomik

English

Etymology

From pot +? luck. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, sense 3 (“a shared meal consisting of whatever guests have brought”) is unlikely to have been influenced by potlatch even though it has the same meaning.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p?t?l?k/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p?t?l?k/, /-?l?k/, /?p?t?l?k/
• Rhymes: -?k (some pronunciations)
• Hyphenation: pot?luck

Noun

potluck (countable and uncountable, plural potlucks) (also attributively)

1. (dated) A meal, especially one offered to a guest, consisting of whatever food is available.
2. (by extension) Whatever is available in a particular situation.
3. (originally Canada, US) A shared meal consisting of whatever guests have brought (sometimes without prior arrangement); a potlatch; also, a dish of food brought to such a meal.

   Synonym: (Britain, dialectal) fuddle
4. (obsolete) The last draft or portion of an alcoholic beverage in a pot or other drinking vessel.

Usage notes

Sense 3 of the term is widespread in American English, though the Dictionary of American Regional English finds that it is less common in the South, the Mid-Atlantic states, and New York than elsewhere.

Alternative forms

• pot luck
• pot-luck

Translations

See also

• brown bag

References

Further reading

• potluck on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• John S[tephen] Farmer; W[illiam] E[rnest] Henley, compilers and editors (1902) , “Pot-luck”, in Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present: […], volume V (N. to Razzle-dazzle), London: Printed for subscribers only, OCLC 220990342, pages 273–274.
• potluck in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “potluck”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary, (Please provide a date or year).
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “potluck”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• putlock