[v?'s?s?tju:d, v??-]
¦ noun
1. a change of circumstances or fortune, typically for the worse.
2. literary alternation between contrasting things.
Derivatives
vicissitudinous -'tju:d?n?s adjective
Origin
C17: from Fr., or from L. vicissitudo, from vicissim 'by turns', from vic- 'turn, change'.