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vicissitude - 4 dictionary results

vi⋅cis⋅si⋅tude

  [vi-sis-i-tood, -tyood]
Use vicissitude in a Sentence
–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.
Origin:
1560–70; < L vicissitūdō, equiv. to viciss(im) in turn (perh. by syncope < *vice-cessim; vice in the place of (see vice 3 ) + cessim giving way, adv. deriv. of cēdere to go, proceed) + -i- -i- -tūdō -tude

Related forms:
vi⋅cis⋅si⋅tu⋅di⋅nous, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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vi·cis·si·tude   (vĭ-sĭs'ĭ-tōōd', -tyōōd')   
n.  
    1. A change or variation.
    2. The quality of being changeable; mutability.
  2. One of the sudden or unexpected changes or shifts often encountered in one's life, activities, or surroundings. Often used in the plural. See Synonyms at difficulty.

[Latin vicissitūdō, from vicissim, in turn, probably from vicēs, pl. of *vix, change; see weik-2 in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Vicissitude

Vi*cis"si*tude\, n. [L. vicissitudo, fr. vicis change, turn: cf. F. vicissitude. See Vicarious.]

1. Regular change or succession from one thing to another; alternation; mutual succession; interchange.

God made two great lights . . . To illuminate the earth and rule the day In their vicissitude, and rule the night. --Milton.

2. Irregular change; revolution; mutation.

This man had, after many vicissitudes of fortune, sunk at last into abject and hopeless poverty. --Macaulay.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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vicissitude 
1570, from M.Fr. vicissitude (14c.), from L. vicissitudinem (nom. vicissitudo) "change," from vicissim "changeably, in turn," from vicis "a turn, change" (see vicarious).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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