as in ordeal
a negative event or circumstance that is common to a particular setting or situation and is usually beyond one's control
The vicissitudes of medical school proved too much for the anxious student.
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Recent Examples of vicissitude
By using non-actors who have endured the vicissitudes of the world, Laxe didn’t have to develop the characters in a conventional way.
—
Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 12 Nov. 2025
Renaissance has prided itself on a debt-free history, despite the vicissitudes of performing arts fundraising.
—Jim Higgins, jsonline.com, 24 Sep. 2025
Mere knick-knacks, which have all disappeared with the vicissitudes of years.
—Adam Verner
september 3, Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2025
But Hynes details life’s vicissitudes with poetic exactitude.
—Will Dukes, Rolling Stone, 2 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for vicissitude
Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 12 Nov. 2025
Renaissance has prided itself on a debt-free history, despite the vicissitudes of performing arts fundraising.
—Jim Higgins, jsonline.com, 24 Sep. 2025
Mere knick-knacks, which have all disappeared with the vicissitudes of years.
—Adam Verner
september 3, Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2025
But Hynes details life’s vicissitudes with poetic exactitude.
—Will Dukes, Rolling Stone, 2 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for vicissitude
Recent Examples of Synonyms for vicissitude
Noun
-
Lee may have survived the ordeal if not for the 911 dispatchers who failed her.—
Amanda Lee Myers,
USA Today,
18 Mar. 2026
-
For millions of soccer fans, buying World Cup tickets has been an ordeal.—
Alex Mayyasi,
NPR,
17 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Historically one of the most competitive divisions in MLB, the AL East should once again be a gauntlet with four teams expected to be in the postseason hunt.—
Mac Cerullo,
Boston Herald,
21 Mar. 2026
-
And audiences are exhausted by sameness because only one type of film survives this gauntlet.—
Daren Smith,
IndieWire,
18 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
For the more superstitious among us, Friday the 13th is a day that means bad luck and misfortune.—
Annie Harrigan,
Billboard,
17 Mar. 2026
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That’s the idea that men who date women in the Kardashian family often face personal or professional misfortune.—
Martha Ross,
Mercury News,
16 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The earthly experience of personal grief and privation that inspired such transcendent beauty is mind-bending in its own way.—
Eric Bulson,
The Atlantic,
2 Jan. 2026
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Diaries kept by Eugenia Zieber describe the privations of the trail, chief among them the frequent deaths of fellow travelers.—
Trevor Hughes,
USA Today,
3 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Vicissitude.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vicissitude. Accessed 25 Mar. 2026.
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