different between circumstance vs vicissitude

English

Alternative forms

• circumstaunce (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English circumstaunce, from Old French circonstance, from Latin circumstantia

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /?s??k?mst(?)ns/, /-??ns/, /-æns/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s?.k?m.?stæns/
• Hyphenation: cir?cum?stance

Noun

circumstance (countable and uncountable, plural circumstances)

1. Something which is related to, or in some way affects, a fact or event.
2. An event; a fact; a particular incident.
3. Circumlocution; detail.
4. Condition in regard to worldly estate; state of property; situation; surroundings.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

circumstance (third-person singular simple present circumstances, present participle circumstancing, simple past and past participle circumstanced)

1. To place in a particular situation, especially with regard to money or other resources.

English

Etymology

From Middle French vicissitude, from Latin vicissit?d? (“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”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): [v??s?s.??t(j)u(?)d], [va??s?s.??t(j)u(?)d]
• Hyphenation: vi?cis?si?tude

Noun

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.

   Synonym: (informal) ups and downs

2. (often in the plural) A change, especially in one's life or fortunes.
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, vii, 351,

     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, "US redeployments afoot in Asia", Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 18, Pg. 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.

Related terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• vicissitude in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• vicissitude in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• vicissitude at OneLook Dictionary Search

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French vicissitude.

Noun

vicissitude f (plural vicissitudes, diminutive vicissitudetje n)

1. vicissitude

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vicissit?d?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vi.si.si.tyd/

Noun

vicissitude f (plural vicissitudes)

1. vicissitude

Further reading

• “vicissitude” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Portuguese

Noun

vicissitude f (plural vicissitudes)

1. vicissitude (regular change or succession from one thing to another)
2. an unfortunate occurrence

   Synonyms: revés, infortúnio