different between occasion vs vicissitude

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French occasion, from Old French occasiun, from Latin occasionem (accusative of occasio), noun of action from perfect passive participle occasus, from verb occido, from prefix ob- (“down", "away”) + verb cado (“fall”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??ke???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n
• Hyphenation: oc?ca?sion

Noun

occasion (countable and uncountable, plural occasions)

1. A favorable opportunity; a convenient or timely chance. [from 14th c.]
   • 1690, Edmund Waller, The Maids Tragedy Alter'd

     I'll take the occasion which he gives to bring / Him to his death.
2. The time when something happens.

3. An occurrence or state of affairs which causes some event or reaction; a motive or reason. [from 14th c.]

4. Something which causes something else; a cause. [from 14th c.]
   • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, p. 130:

     it were too vile to say, and scarce to be beleeved, what we endured: but the occasion was our owne, for want of providence, industrie and government [...].

5. (obsolete) An occurrence or incident. [14th-18th c.]
6. A particular happening; an instance or time when something occurred. [from 15th c.]
7. Need; requirement, necessity. [from 16th c.]
   • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living

     after we have served ourselves and our own occasions

   • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

     when my occasions took me into France

8. A special event or function. [from 19th c.]

9. A reason or excuse; a motive; a persuasion.

Derived terms

• occasional
• on occasion
• rise to the occasion

Translations

Verb

occasion (third-person singular simple present occasions, present participle occasioning, simple past and past participle occasioned)

1. (transitive) To cause; to produce; to induce

   it is seen that the mental changes are occasioned by a change of polarity

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin occ?si?nem (accusative of occ?si?). Compare the inherited Old French ochoison, achaison (the latter being influenced by Latin acc?s?ti?).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?.ka.zj??/

Noun

occasion f (plural occasions)

1. occasion, opportunity
2. cause
3. bargain, good deal
4. secondhand or used item

Derived terms

Further reading

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

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