vagary
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of vagary
1565–75, in sense “wandering journey”; apparently < Latin vagārī to wander
Explanation
A vagary is an unexpected and unpredictable change, and the word is usually used in the plural. You might know from experience that the vagaries of winter weather make planning a vacation in February a risky proposition. Vagary traces back to the Latin root meaning "wander," and you can think of a vagary as something that wanders. Events or situations that seem to change at random have vagaries. Whether the hottest new boy band will succeed or not is dependent on the vagaries of teenage enthusiasms. The vagaries of the real estate market will determine whether that swamp property you just bought is a gold mine or a disaster.
Vocabulary lists containing vagary
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Christopher Columbus' Diary: The First Voyage
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A Separate Peace
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It covers the whole wide world of early-19th-century trade, and it evinces a worldly acceptance of human disparity and vagary.
From Washington Post • Nov. 16, 2018
If they mess up — or even if the issue is just a vagary of your own personal preferences — it’s only right to give them another chance.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 5, 2017
Normally, this would result in a total solar eclipse, but for a vagary of orbital mechanics: It happened when the Moon was near apogee, the point in its orbit when it’s farthest from Earth.
From Slate • Dec. 23, 2013
Mr. DeJohnette and the bassist Dave Holland didn’t miss a beat, but the abruptness of the shift underscored a feeling of haste and vagary in the first half.
From New York Times • Jun. 26, 2010
As Sullivan saw it, “Burnham came out of his somnambulistic vagary and joined in. He was keen enough to understand that ‘Uncle Dick’”—meaning Hunt—“had done him a needed favor.”
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
