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
Their vicissitudes are both timely and for all time.
—
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor, 17 Dec. 2025
Whatever its reputation, the OIGC is still subject to the vicissitudes of other arts organizations.
—Andrew Gilbert, Mercury News, 1 Dec. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for vicissitude
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor, 17 Dec. 2025
Whatever its reputation, the OIGC is still subject to the vicissitudes of other arts organizations.
—Andrew Gilbert, Mercury News, 1 Dec. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for vicissitude
Recent Examples of Synonyms for vicissitude
Noun
-
Meanwhile, Phillips said, victims are left to live with the impacts of the perpetrators’ actions — with the survivors in this case forced to continue to relive their ordeals as the case continues on to the Court of Appeal.—
Chantal Da Silva,
NBC news,
3 June 2026
-
Success after so much failure—gut-wrenching letdowns after episodes of Odyssean temptation to fleeting belief; too many to count—is almost an ordeal.—
Vinson Cunningham,
New Yorker,
2 June 2026
Noun
-
To get this far, the architects navigated an unholy gauntlet of constraints.—
Justin Davidson,
Curbed,
8 June 2026
-
Holliday was the winner of the Battle for the Brave 12-man gauntlet match.—
Ryan Gaydos,
FOXNews.com,
8 June 2026
Noun
-
Their misfortune was to play in the same era and conference as Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.—
Michael Powell,
The Atlantic,
3 June 2026
-
His buddy Alex Michelsen, 21, had the misfortune of running into Jódar.—
Matthew Futterman,
New York Times,
31 May 2026
Noun
-
The novel emphasizes that these conditions of privation and dispossession are themselves a vicious inheritance, that bloodshed and conquest have long characterized the story of this land.—
Rachel Vorona Cote,
Vulture,
2 June 2026
-
Meanwhile, the European settlers, underprepared for actual conditions in the region, suffered great privations, and only 1,500 remained by 1832.—
Britannica Editors,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
19 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Vicissitude.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vicissitude. Accessed 10 Jun. 2026.
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