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vicissitude

[vi-sis-i-tood, -tyood]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR vicissitude ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

change; mutation; mutability.

Origin of vicissitude

1560–70; < Latin vicissitūdō, equivalent to viciss(im) in turn (perhaps by syncope < *vice-cessim; vice in the place of (see vice³) + cessim giving way, adv. derivative of cēdere to go, proceed) + -i- -i- -tūdō -tude

Related formsvi·cis·si·tu·di·nous, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for vicissitude

fluctuation, permutation, revolution, diversity, progression, variety, shift, uncertainty, novelty, alteration, variation, switch, turnaround, mutation, reversal, innovation, flip-flop, sport, about-face, alternation

Examples from the Web for vicissitude

Historical Examples of vicissitude

But, on the whole, death and vicissitude had done very little.
Fragments from The Journal of a Solitary Man
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Every grief hath that opportunity of cure; every joy that peril of vicissitude.
St. Cuthbert's
Robert E. Knowles
The Sun shone on it: the vicissitude of seasons and human fortunes.
Past and Present
Thomas Carlyle
What dark treasure-houses of vicissitude and woe are our memories become!
Zanoni
Edward Bulwer Lytton
London had hitherto been true to him through every vicissitude.
Critical and Historical Essays, Volume III (of 3)
Thomas Babington Macaulay

British Dictionary definitions for vicissitude

vicissitude

noun

variation or mutability in nature or life, esp successive alternation from one condition or thing to another

a variation in circumstance, fortune, character, etc

Derived Formsvicissitudinary or vicissitudinous, adjective

Word Origin for vicissitude

C16: from Latin vicissitūdō, from vicis change, alternation

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

Word Origin and History for vicissitude

n.

1560s, from Middle French vicissitude (14c.), from Latin vicissitudinem (nominative vicissitudo) "change," from vicissim "changeably, in turn," from vicis "a turn, change" (see vicarious). Related: Vicissitudes.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper