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
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
How should those future retirees be investing today to best weather the vicissitudes of tomorrow?
—Eamon Barrett, Fortune, 2 Mar. 2023
See All Example Sentences for vicissitude
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
How should those future retirees be investing today to best weather the vicissitudes of tomorrow?
—Eamon Barrett, Fortune, 2 Mar. 2023
See All Example Sentences for vicissitude
Recent Examples of Synonyms for vicissitude
Noun
-
My dad for enduring his heart transplant ordeal and surviving against all odds and my mom for her undying loyalty and being the best teammate of all time!—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
28 Jan. 2026
-
Sweeney posted a video of the ordeal to her Instagram on Monday night.—
Jack Dunn,
Variety,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
In the final, Black & Alshon threw down the gauntlet, beating the top pair in three straight for gold.—
Todd Boss,
Forbes.com,
26 Jan. 2026
-
Amid the gauntlet of billboards touting fast food, urgent care and gasoline, along busy Route 41 is one that stands out more than ever now.—
Charles Selle,
Chicago Tribune,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
As the son falls out of an old relationship and into a new one, his moodiness acquires a new pathos—seemingly a symptom of the sheer pain of living rather than a response to any single misfortune.—
Dan Sheehan,
Literary Hub,
22 Jan. 2026
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And in an essay published over the weekend, another emergency physician says that the show’s decision to focus on the main character’s anguish over Covid paints the pandemic as a sad misfortune, rather than a moral failure.—
Theresa Gaffney,
STAT,
21 Jan. 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 29 Jan. 2026.
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