a change of circumstances or fortune, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant
(尤指不受欢迎或不愉快的)世事变化,变迁
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her husband's sharp vicissitudes of fortune. 她丈夫财富的急剧变化。
 
[mass  noun]
〈诗/ 文〉 (对立事物之间)变更;交替
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the vicissitude of the seasons .四季的交替。
 
"early 17th cent. (in the sense ‘alternation’): from French, or from Latin