What are the differences between plight, predicament, quandry and ordeal?

Next time, don't check a dictionary or thesaurus, look up the etymology."Plight" means that someone is in a desperate situation, and may suffer loss, come to harm, or even die if they do not get help. The original meaning of "plight" was to be in danger.

"He was reduced to begging on the streets, looking for scraps of food, and there was no one to help him in his plight."

"The tigers in this region are nearly extinct, but man continues to ignore their plight."

"Predicament" is a situation that is not necessarily threatening, just hard to deal with, or hard to decide on. For example, you might be accepted to a really good college after promising your father or mother you would go to another, this is certainly a predicament, but definitely not "plight". A predicament usually does not carry with it a sense of danger, just the need to make a difficult decision or choice.

"Quandary" originally means "perplexed", as in confused, or unable to find an answer. From a literal question, this has been extended to the "question" of what to do in a situation.
Any situation that is sufficiently complex or confusing can leave you in a quandary.

An ordeal is not really related to these other words. An ordeal is a very difficult, trying experience, especially one that is physically or emotionally traumatic.

You should note that ordeal originally meant punishment that was handed out to someone, then it seems to have taken on elements of a "test of character" and finally the modern meaning of just a really difficult, trying experience.

Predicament Thesaurus

Define Predicament

From answers.com

PREDICAMENT:

predicament, plight, quandary, jam, fix, pickle. These nouns refer to a situation from which it is difficult to free oneself. A predicament is a problematic situation about which one does not know what to do: "Werner finds himself suddenly in a most awkward predicament" (Thomas Carlyle). A plight is a bad or unfortunate situation: The report examined the plight of homeless people. A quandary is a state of perplexity, especially about what course of action to take: "Having captured our men, we were in a quandary how to keep them" (Theodore Roosevelt). Jam and fix are less formal terms that refer to predicaments from which it is difficult to escape: kids who were in a jam with the authorities; "If we get left on this wreck we are in a fix" (Mark Twain). An informal term, a pickle is a disagreeable, embarrassing, or troublesome predicament: "I could see no way out of the pickle I was in" (Robert Louis Stevenson).

I am not sure off the top my head but a quick trip to dictionary and thesaurus dot com and you will know!