vicissitude

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: vi=cis=si=tude

CIDE DICTIONARY

vicissitude, n. [L. vicissitudo, fr. vicis change, turn: cf. F. vicissitude. See Vicarious.].

•  Regular change or succession from one thing to another; alternation; mutual succession; interchange.  [1913 Webster]

  "God made two great lights . . .
  To illuminate the earth and rule the day
  In their vicissitude, and rule the night."  [1913 Webster]
•  Irregular change; revolution; mutation.  [1913 Webster]
•  Changing conditions of fortune in one's life; life's ups and downs.  [PJC]

  "This man had, after many vicissitudes of fortune, sunk at last into abject and hopeless poverty."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

vicissitude, n.
1 a change of circumstances, esp. variation of fortune.
2 archaic or poet. regular change; alternation.

Derivative

vicissitudinous adj.

Etymology

F vicissitude or L vicissitudo -dinis f. vicissim by turns (as VICE(3))

THESAURUS

vicissitude

adverse circumstances, adversity, affliction, aggravation, alteration, alternation, annoyance, asperity, blight, bummer, care, chain of circumstances, chain reaction, change, changeability, changes, chapter of accidents, chop and change, concatenation of events, contrasts, cross, curse, difficulties, difficulty, diversity, downer, feast and famine, fluctuation, flukiness, flux, hard knocks, hard life, hard lot, hardcase, hardness, hardship, inconstancy, innovation, ins and outs, irritation, mischance, misfortune, mutability, mutation, novelty, oscillation, pendulation, permutation, plight, predicament, pressure, progression, reversal, rigor, sea of troubles, seesawing, shifting, shuffling, sport, stress, stress of life, teeter-tottering, teetering, tottering, transposition, trial, tribulation, trouble, troubles, unpredictability, ups and downs, vacillation, vale of tears, variability, variation, variations, variety, vicious circle, vicissitudes, vicissitudes of fortune, wavering

ROGET THESAURUS

vicissitude

Changeableness

N changeableness, mutability, inconstancy, versatility, mobility, instability, unstable equilibrium, vacillation, fluctuation, vicissitude, alternation, restlessness, fidgets, disquiet, disquietude, inquietude, unrest, agitation, moon, Proteus, chameleon, quicksilver, shifting sands, weathercock, harlequin, Cynthia of the minute, April showers, wheel of Fortune, transientness, changeable, changeful, changing, mutable, variable, checkered, ever changing, protean, proteiform, versatile, unstaid, inconstant, unsteady, unstable, unfixed, unsettled, fluctuating, restless, agitated, erratic, fickle, irresolute, capricious, touch and go, inconsonant, fitful, spasmodic, vibratory, vagrant, wayward, desultory, afloat, alternating, alterable, plastic, mobile, transient, wavering, seesaw, off and on, a rolling stone gathers no moss, pictra mossa non fa muschis, honores mutant mores, varium et mutabile semper femina.