What's the difference between betroth and plight?

Betroth


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To contract to any one for a marriage; to engage or promise in order to marriage; to affiance; -- used esp. of a woman.
  • (v. t.) To promise to take (as a future spouse); to plight one's troth to.
  • (v. t.) To nominate to a bishopric, in order to consecration.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Back in London, I had word that Estella was betrothed to Bentley Drummle, a loathsome ne-er-do-well from my lunching club.
  • (2) Concomitant with the reintroduction of the ancient European betrothal system, the adolescent age of first coitus has lowered and averages two years earlier than first contraception.
  • (3) The peculiar thing about the opera is that the back story – war, slayings, the murder of the Irish princess Isolde's betrothed by the Cornish knight Tristan, her determination to kill the latter, her failure to do so, the way she healed Tristan's wounds and kept his identity secret – is more interesting than the story itself, which revolves around the pair not quite being able to make love despite drinking a love potion (substituted by Isolde's lady-in-waiting Brangäne for the poison with which Isolde intended to kill both Tristan and herself as they journeyed to Cornwall, where she was to marry boring old King Marke).
  • (4) Are Nicola Sturgeon and the majority within her party really so betrothed to the idea of the UK being part of the European Union that she is comfortable with Mr Blair sliding on to the same platform?
  • (5) Though not so much as to accept the impertinent offer of marriage from Mr Guppy, for – if it is not too much to hope – I rather think that in 500 pages or so I may be betrothed to the handsome and warm-hearted Dr Woodcourt who gave me some reason for encouragement before leaving the narrative after being nice to Young Jo.
  • (6) Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Tyrells of the Reach Margaery Tyrell has King Joffrey, her betrothed, firmly under her thumb, much to the chagrin of Cersei.
  • (7) The shrewd reader will regard the final betrothal of Emma and Mr Knightley as inevitable, from the moment we know that he is the only person ever to find fault with her.
  • (8) "There was only one saving grace," he wrote in his autobiography Dear Me (1977), which sold a million copies, "and that was that I was irrevocably betrothed to laughter, the sound of which has always seemed to me the most civilised music in the universe."
  • (9) The engaged couple were reported to have celebrated their betrothal in the hotel's bar, drinking champagne and cocktails with other guests.
  • (10) There you are, betrothed to your beloved, but something goes wrong and it is broken off in tears and recriminations.

Plight


Definition:

  • () imp. & p. p. of Plight, to pledge.
  • () imp. & p. p. of Pluck.
  • (v. t.) To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait.
  • (n.) A network; a plait; a fold; rarely a garment.
  • (n.) That which is exposed to risk; that which is plighted or pledged; security; a gage; a pledge.
  • (n.) Condition; state; -- risk, or exposure to danger, often being implied; as, a luckless plight.
  • (n.) To pledge; to give as a pledge for the performance of some act; as, to plight faith, honor, word; -- never applied to property or goods.
  • (n.) To promise; to engage; to betroth.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Now, a small Scottish charity, Edinburgh Direct Aid – moved by their plight and aware that the language of Lebanese education is French and English and that Syria is Arabic – is delivering textbooks in Arabic to the school and have offered to fund timeshare projects across the country.
  • (2) A 76-year-old British national has been held in an Iranian jail for more than four years and convicted of spying, his family has revealed, as they seek to draw attention to the plight of a man they describe as one of the “oldest and loneliest prisoners in Iran”.
  • (3) A prominent gay rights activist, Nikolai Alexeev, said although Fry's letter "won't change anything" at the Olympics, it would help raise awareness of the plight of LGBT Russians.
  • (4) Greece's desperate plight hovers over the meeting, although formally there is no mention of Greece on the agenda or in the statements drafted for the meeting.
  • (5) Persistent media highlighting of the plight of patients suffering from severe fatigue of unknown cause (postviral fatigue syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitis) has at last been matched by professional attention.
  • (6) "But if it keeps their plight and the plight of the Arctic in the press, I think she would be happy to do it."
  • (7) What he didn’t foresee was that getting to know people more intimately would result in his using portraits – more than 130 so far – to raise awareness of the plight of chronic homelessness generally or that he would become passionately vocal about what has been an entrenched issue for a number of US cities for decades.
  • (8) Sting – a man who had split the Police to pursue a more adult-oriented career, and who would in the following year ponder such poptastic issues as how much Russians loved their children and the plight of miners – took that job in 1984, while this year it falls to Guy Garvey, who may as well just change his middle name to 6Music.
  • (9) Victims of the Great Depression were there in plain sight, the unemployed queuing up in breadlines, their plight unambiguous.
  • (10) Qatar had vowed to reform the industry after the Guardian exposed the desperate plight of many of its migrant workers last year.
  • (11) I keep going and going and going.” 17) Being ahead of the curve July 2008: Two years before the Qatar vote, addresses the plight of exploited workers denied liveable pay and conditions.
  • (12) The legitimate focus on the plight of refugees on Nauru has overshadowed the impact of Australian policies on that island nation, a closely integrated society of just 10,000 people.
  • (13) Last week the International Consortium of British Pensioners (ICBP), which represents expat campaigning groups in Australia and Canada, launched its new Pension Justice website , aimed at highlighting their plight.
  • (14) Few measures have elicited more anger – or ingenious forms of revolt – than the property tax announced by Greek ministers to plug a budget black hole that might have gone unnoticed had Greece's plight not threatened the entire eurozone.
  • (15) With 73,000 people killed and large parts of its cities and villages destroyed in the north by the disaster, the plight of 2.5 million people left homeless hung in the balance.
  • (16) They seem to be unaware of the plight of this particular group of British savers.
  • (17) We have long been campaigning on the issue of income drawdown restrictions and so are pleased to see the government taking heed of the plight of these savers.
  • (18) But the strike proved a seminal moment in the British labour movement, drawing attention to the overlooked plight of female migrant workers – and generating admiration for Desai's tenacity.
  • (19) As for Aloisi's plight, Popovic declined to offer advice.
  • (20) Restrictions on local news agencies and newspapers seem to have eased recently with a few going as far as breaking the taboo on reporting the plight of political prisoners or the house arrests of opposition leaders.