Pledge vs Plight - What's the difference?
pledge | plight |
To make a solemn promise (to do something).
To deposit something as a security; to pawn.
To give assurance of friendship by the act of drinking; to drink to one's health.
* 1773 ,
* 1852 , Matthew Arnold, Tristram and Iseult
A solemn promise to do something.
Something given by a person who is borrowing money etc to the person he has borrowed it from, to be kept until the money etc is returned.
A person who has taken a pledge of allegiance to a college fraternity, but not yet formally approved.
A security to guarantee payment of a debt.
A drinking toast.
A promise to abstain from drinking alcohol.
A dire or unfortunate situation.
*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 10, author=Arindam Rej, work=BBC Sport
, title= *2005 , Lesley Brown, translating Plato, Sophist , :
*:Though we say we are quite clear about it and understand when someone uses the expression, unlike that other expression, maybe we're in the same plight with regard to them both.
*, II.8:
*:although hee live in as good plight and health as may be, yet he chafeth, he scoldeth, he brawleth, he fighteth, he sweareth, and biteth, as the most boistrous and tempestuous master of France .
(obsolete) Good health.
*1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.7:
*:All wayes shee sought him to restore to plight , / With herbs, with charms, with counsel, and with teares.
Responsibility for ensuing consequences; risk; danger; peril.
An instance of danger or peril; a dangerous moment or situation.
Blame; culpability; fault; wrong-doing; sin; crime.
One's office; duty; charge.
(archaic) That which is exposed to risk; that which is plighted or pledged; security; a gage; a pledge.
* Shakespeare
To expose to risk; to pledge.
Specifically, to pledge (one's troth etc.) as part of a marriage ceremony.
(reflexive) To promise (oneself) to someone, or to do something.
* 1992 , Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety , Harper Perennial 2007, p. 226:
(obsolete) To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait.
* Milton
(obsolete) A network; a plait; a fold; rarely a garment.
* Spenser
In transitive terms the difference between pledge and plight
is that pledge is to give assurance of friendship by the act of drinking; to drink to one's health while plight is specifically, to pledge (one's troth etc.) as part of a marriage ceremony.As verbs the difference between pledge and plight
is that pledge is to make a solemn promise (to do something) while plight is to expose to risk; to pledge.As nouns the difference between pledge and plight
is that pledge is a solemn promise to do something while plight is a dire or unfortunate situation.pledge
English
(wikipedia pledge)Verb
(pledg)- HARDCASTLE [Taking the cup.] I hope you'll find it to your mind. I have prepared it with my own hands, and I believe you'll own the ingredients are tolerable. Will you be so good as to pledge me, sir? Here, Mr. Marlow, here is to our better acquaintance. [Drinks.]
- Reach me my golden cup that stands by thee,
- And pledge me in it first for courtesy.
Noun
(en noun)Synonyms
* (l) * (l)Derived terms
* (l) * (l)plight
English
Etymology 1
(etyl) ).Noun
(en noun)Norwich 4-2 Newcastle, passage=A second Norwich goal in four minutes arrived after some dire Newcastle defending. Gosling gave the ball away with a sloppy back-pass, allowing Crofts to curl in a cross that the unmarked Morison powered in with a firm, 12-yard header. ¶ Gosling's plight worsened when he was soon shown a red card for a foul on Martin.}}
Etymology 2
From (etyl) . More at pledge.Noun
(en noun)- that lord whose hand must take my plight
Derived terms
* (l) * (l)Verb
(en verb)- I ask what I have done to deserve it, one daughter hobnobbing with radicals and the other planning to plight herself to a criminal.
Derived terms
* (l)Etymology 3
Through (etyl), from (etyl) and Danish flette are probably unrelated.Verb
(en verb)- A plighted garment of divers colors.
Noun
(en noun)- Many a folded plight .