vicissitude

Definition

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

Etymology

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”).

Example Sentences

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

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