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.
Related Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of vicissitude
People who pay attention to the vicissitudes of Tesla CEO Elon Musk know that the man is not always serious on Twitter.
—
Aarian Marshall, Wired, 10 May 2020
The vicissitudes of history always challenge us in new and often confounding ways; that’s in the nature of things.
—Jon Meacham, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2020
All of the biggest corporate mergers, the deals that determine the vicissitudes of our global markets, happen within their walls.
—Rachel Epstein, Marie Claire, 30 Mar. 2020
Sport is usually a constant -- a field, court, track or course that is resistant to the vicissitudes of the world around us.
—George Ramsay, CNN, 12 Mar. 2020
See All Example Sentences for vicissitude
Aarian Marshall, Wired, 10 May 2020
The vicissitudes of history always challenge us in new and often confounding ways; that’s in the nature of things.
—Jon Meacham, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2020
All of the biggest corporate mergers, the deals that determine the vicissitudes of our global markets, happen within their walls.
—Rachel Epstein, Marie Claire, 30 Mar. 2020
Sport is usually a constant -- a field, court, track or course that is resistant to the vicissitudes of the world around us.
—George Ramsay, CNN, 12 Mar. 2020
See All Example Sentences for vicissitude
Recent Examples of Synonyms for vicissitude
Noun
-
One reported attendee live-tweeted the entire ordeal and claimed Ye started the show over 45 minutes late.—
Mya Abraham,
VIBE.com,
14 July 2025
-
Taissa Farmiga, who plays Gladys, graciously spoke with The Hollywood Reporter and answered several questions regarding her beloved character’s state of mind throughout this especially harrowing ordeal.—
Ronda Racha Penrice,
HollywoodReporter,
14 July 2025
Noun
-
Not helping that skepticism was the gauntlet Gurnee strategically set up at three major Grand Avenue intersections, from Route 21 west to Hunt Club Road.—
Charles Selle,
Chicago Tribune,
14 July 2025
-
And with that, the Dodgers reached the end of a 10-game gauntlet against their closest pursuers in the National League West, the Padres and San Francisco Giants.—
Bill Plunkett,
Oc Register,
20 June 2025
Noun
-
When a child is harmed, her parent, in scrambling to make sense of her family’s sorrow and misfortune, may settle on blaming the person closest at hand.—
Jessica Winter,
New Yorker,
7 July 2025
-
Some shook their legs nervously, others gave death glares to folks with the misfortune of sitting on creaky chairs.—
Omkar Khandekar,
NPR,
8 June 2025
Noun
-
The policy, while inevitably controversial, was meant to correct for the nearly fifty years of brutal privations that Black South Africans endured under apartheid.—
Jonathan Blitzer,
New Yorker,
1 June 2025
-
But whereas the first generation of Chinese entrepreneurs grew up poor and were happy to wring a livelihood from cheap imitations, today’s tech graduates were spared the privations of their parents and yearn for something more meaningful.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
29 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Vicissitude.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vicissitude. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share