Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use vicissitude in a sentence

13 example sentences · noun

Vicissitude means regular change or succession from one thing to another, or one part of a cycle to the next; alternation; mutual succession; interchange; variability. Example: “His soldierly demeanour stood him good stead in civilian life when vicissitudes would assail him.”

Examples of vicissitude by meaning

nounA change, especially in one's life or fortunes.

  • Only a handful of rock musicians have become genuine icons - larger-than-life symbolic figures whose personal triumphs and vicissitudes seem to mirror the ups and downs of rock as a whole, and sometimes of the society that nurtures it.1981 May 31, Robert Palmer, “Two Icons of Rock Music”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 18 Apr 2023
  • 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 2001.2003 November 18, “US redeployments afoot in Asia”, in Christian Science Monitor, page 6
  • Engaged intellectuals were obliged to take a stand on the side of progress and History, whatever the occasional moral vicissitudes.2005, Tony Judt, “Culture Wars”, in Postwar: A history of Europe since 1945, London: Vintage Books, published 2010, →ISBN

More sentences with vicissitude

  • His soldierly demeanour stood him good stead in civilian life when vicissitudes would assail him.From the entry soldierly
  • Boro's recently reinstated and reassuringly shouty PA announcer Mark Page has had a career of Partridgian vicissitudes.2013, Daniel Gray, Hatters, Railwaymen and Knitters: Travels through England's Football Provinces, →ISBN, page 29. From the entry Partridgian
  • We are now, I think, entering the third, or Fodorian phase in the vicissitudes of common sense.1988, Keith Campbell, “Philosophy and Common Sense”, in Philosophy, volume 63, number 244, →JSTOR, page 166. From the entry Fodorian
  • This type of tranquillity is believed to bless those organisms which are unawakenable to the vicissitudes of experience.1965, Evelyn Urban Shirk, The ethical dimension: an approach to the philosophy of values and valuing. From the entry unawakenable
  • And we do absolutely know that these men's inborn temperaments have remained unchanged through all the vicissitudes of their material affairs.1906, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “What Is Man? Chapter VI. Instinct and Thought.”, in What Is Man? And Other…. From the entry immaterial
  • Truth is inconcussible — forever exempt from all transient vicissitudes, albeit never dead and formal, always vibrant and adaptable — radiantly alive.2011, Nicholas P. Snoek, Urantia the Earth-The Origin of It All, page 60. From the entry inconcussible
  • History is the vicissitudes of common folk, and nothing nobler can be contemplated than the numberless multitudes who shape the world’s destiny.1974, New Blackfriars, page 62. From the entry polloi
  • The history of the Anglo-Indian Community in British-controlled India is one of many ups and downs, of vicissitudes and prosperity, of security and insecurity.1973, Noel Pitts Gist, Roy Dean Wright, Marginality and Identity, page 150. From the entry controlled
  • The legal claim, conceding the particularity of every member of a political community, constitutes a bulwark against the pressures of public sentiment and the unpredictable vicissitudes of dominant opinion.1995, Carlos B. Gutiérrez [ed.], El Trabajo Filosófico de Hoy en el Continente: Actas del XIII Congreso Interamericano de Filosofía…. From the entry égalitarianism
  • We should seek to convert the American from the search for cosmetic "youthemisms" for growing old such as "Golden Agers" to acceptance of old age's vicissitudes, inevitability, and pleasures.1960, Ruth Margaret White, Library Service to an Aging Population: An Institute. From the entry youthemism

Meaning of vicissitude

  1. noun Regular change or succession from one thing to another, or one part of a cycle to the next; alternation; mutual succession; interchange; variability.
  2. noun A change, especially in one's life or fortunes.

Full definition of vicissitude

Questions about vicissitude in a sentence

How do you use vicissitude in a sentence?
Vicissitude is used as a noun. For example: “His soldierly demeanour stood him good stead in civilian life when vicissitudes would assail him.”
What is a short sentence with vicissitude?
“His soldierly demeanour stood him good stead in civilian life when vicissitudes would assail him.”
What does vicissitude mean?
Vicissitude means regular change or succession from one thing to another, or one part of a cycle to the next; alternation; mutual succession; interchange; variability.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: vicissitude (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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