different between situation vs story

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?st??.?i/
• Rhymes: -???i

Etymology 1

From Middle English storie, storye, from Anglo-Norman estorie, from Latin historia, from Ancient Greek ??????? (historí?, “learning through research”), from ??????? (historé?, “to research, inquire (and) record”), from ????? (híst?r, “the knowing, wise one”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, know”). Doublet of history and storey.

Alternative forms

• storie (obsolete)

Noun

story (plural stories)

1. A sequence of real or fictional events; or, an account of such a sequence.

   Synonym: tome

   • 1673, William Temple, An Essay upon the Advancement of Trade in Ireland

     it must be exploded for fabulous, with other relics of ancient story.

   • June 1861, Edinburgh Review, The Kingdom of Italy

     Venice, with its unique city and its impressive story

2. A lie, fiction.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:lie

3. (US, colloquial, usually pluralized) A soap opera.

   Synonym: serial

   • 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things

     He stood on the doorstep for a minute, listening for sounds inside the house — a radio, a TV tuned to one of the stories […]

4. (obsolete) History.
   • 1644, John Milton, Aeropagitica:

     […] who is so unread or so uncatechis'd in story, that hath not heard of many sects refusing books as a hindrance, and preserving their doctrine unmixt for many ages, only by unwritt'n traditions.

5. A sequence of events, or a situation, such as might be related in an account.

   Synonym: narrative

6. (social media) A chronological collection of pictures or short videos published by a user on an application or website that is typically only available for a short period.

Usage notes

• (soap opera): Popularized in the 1950s, when soap operas were often billed as "continuing stories", the term "story" to describe a soap opera fell into disuse by the 21st century and is now used chiefly among older people and in rural areas. Other English-speaking countries used the term at its zenith as a "loaned" word from the United States.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Welsh: stori

Translations

Verb

story (third-person singular simple present stories, present participle storying, simple past and past participle storied)

1. To tell as a story; to relate or narrate about.
   • 1648, John Wilkins, Mathematical Magick

     It is storied of the brazen colossus in Rhodes, that it was seventy cubits high.

Etymology 2

Probably as etymology 1, since historia already had this meaning in medieval Anglo-Latin. An alternative suggestion derives it from Old French *estoree (“a thing built, a building”), from estoree (“built”), feminine past participle of estorer (“to build”), from Latin instauro (“to construct, build, erect”).

Alternative forms

• storey (UK)

Noun

story (plural stories)

1. (obsolete) A building or edifice.
2. (chiefly US) A floor or level of a building; a storey.

   Synonyms: floor, level

   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, chapter I:

     The lower story of the market-house was open on all four of its sides to the public square.

3. (typography) Alternative form of storey

Translations

Usage notes

See storey.

References

Anagrams

• ryots, stroy, tyros

Middle English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French estoree, past participle of estorer. Alternatively, the same word as storie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?st?ri?(?)/, /?st??ri?(?)/

Noun

story (plural storyes) (rare)

1. A level of a building.
2. A line of paddles on a ship.

Descendants

• English: story, storey

References

• “st?r?(e, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-04-05.

Etymology 2

From Old French estorie, estoire.

Verb

story

1. Alternative form of storie