vicissitude

From Middle French vicissitude, from Latin vicissitūdō (“change”), from vicissim (“on the other hand, in turn”), from vicis (“change, vicissitude”), whence Spanish vez and French fois (“time (as in "next time"), occurrence”).

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /vɪˈsɪs.ɪˌt(j)uːd/, /vaɪˈsɪs.ɪˌtuːd/^[1]

  • Audio (Southern England); /vɪ-/:

    (file)

  • Audio (US); /vɪ-/:

    (file)

• Hyphenation: vi‧cis‧si‧tude

vicissitude (plural vicissitudes)

1. Regular change or succession from one thing to another, or one part of a cycle to the next; alternation; mutual succession; interchange; variability.

   Synonym: (informal) ups and downs

2. (often in the plural) A change, especially in one's life or fortunes.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     And God made.. the Stars, and set them in the firmament of Heaven to illuminate the Earth, and rule the day in their vicissitude...

   • 1789, George Washington, First Inaugural Address:

     Among the vicissitudes incident to life, no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the fourteenth day of the present month.

   • 2003 November 18, “US redeployments afoot in Asia”, in Christian Science Monitor, page 6:

     The vicissitudes of war in Iraq cast a dreary backdrop for Donald Rumsfeld's first visit to Asian military allies since he became US Defense Secretary in 2001.

   • 2005, Tony Judt, “Culture Wars”, in Postwar: A history of Europe since 1945, London: Vintage Books, published 2010, →ISBN:

     Engaged intellectuals were obliged to take a stand on the side of progress and History, whatever the occasional moral vicissitudes.

   • September 8 2022, Stephen Bates, “Queen Elizabeth II obituary”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Despite all the monarchy’s vicissitudes, however, Queen Elizabeth II, a figure from another age, who was stiff and formal and not noticeably particularly warm and empathetic, had won and retained the affection, loyalty and support of the overwhelming majority of the British public, who respected her for her diligence and sense of duty.

• “vicissitude”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “vicissitude”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “vicissitude”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Borrowed from French vicissitude.

vicissitude f (plural vicissitudes, diminutive vicissitudetje n)

1. vicissitude

Borrowed from Latin vicissitūdō.

• IPA^(key): /vi.si.si.tyd/

vicissitude f (plural vicissitudes)

1. vicissitude

• “vicissitude”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Learned borrowing from Latin vicissitūdō.

• Rhymes: -ud͡ʒi, -udɨ
• Hyphenation: vi‧cis‧si‧tu‧de

vicissitude f (plural vicissitudes)

1. variation (change that occurs in things that happen)
2. chance, eventuality
3. adversity, reversal (change of circumstances or conditions, usually unfavorable)
4. setback

• “vicissitude”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “vicissitude”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025