From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishscenariosce‧na‧ri‧o /səˈnɑːriəʊ $ -ˈnærioʊ, -ˈne-/ ●○○ AWL noun (plural scenarios) [countable] 1 FUTURESITUATIONa situation that could possibly happen Imagine a scenario where only 20% of people have a job.possible/likely/plausible scenario Under a likely scenario, world population will double by 2050. a possible scenarioworst-case/nightmare scenario (=the worst possible situation) The worst-case scenario was that he would have to have an operation.2 A technical a written description of the characters, place, and things that will happen in a film, play etcCOLLOCATIONSADJECTIVES/NOUN + scenarioa possible scenarioDefence planners are paid to consider every possible scenario.a likely/plausible scenarioThe more likely scenario is that support for the group will wane.an unlikely scenarioI might get the job, but it is an unlikely scenario.the worst-case/worst scenario (=the worst thing that might happen)The worst-case scenario is that it is already too late to do anything about global warming.a nightmare scenario (=a very bad thing that might happen)The nightmare scenario would be a number of simultaneous terrorist attacks.a doomsday scenario (=a great disaster that might happen)A year ago, few people were talking about such a doomsday scenario.verbsimagine a scenarioIt is difficult to imagine a scenario in which the company will give this information freely. consider a scenario (=think about what might happen)The government has considered various possible scenarios.
Examples from the Corpus
scenario• In a worst-case scenario all life on the planet would be wiped out by a nuclear war.• A common scenario is that a woman marries and sacrifices her career for her husband.• Though not out of the range of historic experience, absolute economic decline is, of course, an extreme scenario.• Under the most hopeful scenario, it will take 20 years to clean up the mess.• This is every politician's nightmare scenario.• Our scenarios are incomplete, no more than works-in-progress, meant to be evocative, not exhaustive.• A possible scenario is depicted in Figure 2.3.• The scenario is world war two and you are at the controls of the fictional whirly-bird.• The scenarios that follow shall include only events that were witnessed and caused injuries, damage, or death.worst-case/nightmare scenario• It must be said, however, that this is a nightmare scenario which the Government does not subscribe to.• Pattison said he agreed with some scientific estimates predicting a worst-case scenario under which 500,000 people might already be infected.• It was the now legendary Nightmare Scenario.• News people are obsessed with bringing the worst-case scenarios to the public.• The flurry of activity is in preparation for the worst-case scenario for winter rainfall.• In the worst-case scenario, coastal resorts, ports and communities face disaster or vast expenditure on coastal protection works.From Longman Business Dictionaryscenariosce‧na‧ri‧o /səˈnɑːriəʊ-ˈnærioʊ-, -ˈne-/ noun [countable] a way in which a situation could possibly developThe most likely scenario is that rates will be cut by 0.5%.We need to consider a worst case scenario (=the worst situation that could possibly happen).With luck the Bank will achieve its golden scenario (=best possible situation) for the value of the pound.Origin scenario (1800-1900) Italian Latin scaenarium, from scaena; → SCENE 