vicissitude

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

noun

1. a change or variation occurring in the course of something.

2. interchange or alternation, as of states or things.

3. 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.

4. regular change or succession of one state or thing to another.

5. change; mutation; mutability.

vicissitude

/ vɪˈsɪsɪˌtjuːd /

noun

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

2. a variation in circumstance, fortune, character, etc

Other Word Forms

• vicissitudinous adjective
• vicissitudinary adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of vicissitude¹

First recorded in 1560–70; from Middle French, from Latin vicissitūdō, equivalent to viciss(im) “in turn” (perhaps by syncope, from unrecorded vice-cessim; vice “in the place of” + cessim “giving way,“ adverbial derivative of cēdere “to go, proceed”) + -i- -i- + -tūdō -tude; vice ³

Word History and Origins

Origin of vicissitude¹

C16: from Latin vicissitūdō, from vicis change, alternation

Example Sentences

The company derives about 70% of its revenue from do-it-yourself consumers and 30% from professional contractors, leaving it more vulnerable to the vicissitudes of the consumer environment.

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Sisterhood wouldn’t be sisterhood without “Little Women,” Louisa May Alcott’s foundational depiction of the vicissitudes of 19th century family life in New England.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Mahan, who’s single with no kids, learned to roll with the vicissitudes of the hospitality business.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

FDR saw Social Security as protection against ‘the hazards and vicissitudes of life,’ as he put it in signing the Social Security Act 90 years ago this week.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He treasures that trait even as he has hidden it beneath armor to avoid “being too badly mauled by the vicissitudes of life.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• fluctuation 
• permutation