vicissitude
a change or variation occurring in the course of something.
interchange or alternation, as of states or things.
vicissitudes, successive, alternating, or changing phases or conditions, as of life or fortune; ups and downs: They remained friends through the vicissitudes of 40 years.
regular change or succession of one state or thing to another.
Origin of vicissitude
1Other words from vicissitude
- vi·cis·si·tu·di·nous, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use vicissitude in a sentence
That party may or may not win power, depending on the vicissitudes of gerrymandering, geography, and the Electoral College.
Art must be used in service of the people—and is always subject to the vicissitudes of the party line.
One by one, nine men, all military veterans, updated the judge on the vicissitudes of their week.
From PTSD to Prison: Why Veterans Become Criminals | Matthew Wolfe | July 28, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTBut no matter what the vicissitudes of life, I am still glad that I came of age in Boston, and that it taught me what it did.
After the ceremony they were separated; and many years full of strange vicissitudes elapsed before they again met.
The History of England from the Accession of James II. | Thomas Babington Macaulay
Through all the vicissitudes of their lives they had kept up a constant correspondence.
Madame Roland, Makers of History | John S. C. AbbottTogether we rejoiced at the escape of Sill and Lamson, and made merry over the vicissitudes of my checkered career.
When in health, I could bear the various trials and vicissitudes through which I was called to pass.
Fox's Book of Martyrs | John FoxeHaving quitted Britain, St. Ursula and her train of 11,000 maidens underwent various vicissitudes.
Archaic England | Harold Bayley
British Dictionary definitions for vicissitude
/ (vɪˈsɪsɪˌtjuːd) /
variation or mutability in nature or life, esp successive alternation from one condition or thing to another
a variation in circumstance, fortune, character, etc
Origin of vicissitude
1Derived forms of vicissitude
- vicissitudinary or vicissitudinous, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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