straits

1. 1.

   a bad or difficult situation or state of affairs

   Synonymspassstrait

   Broadersituation

   Narrowerdesperate straits
2. 2.

   a difficult juncture

   “a pretty pass”

   “matters came to a head yesterday”

   Synonymspasshead

   Broaderjuncture

Other forms of straits

plural

straitses·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about straits

What does straits mean?

straits means "a bad or difficult situation or state of affairs". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in straits?

straits has 1 syllable: straits. In IPA it is /ˈstɹeɪts/.

What is another word for straits?

Close synonyms include pass, strait, pass, head. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is straits a common word?

straits is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.