Vi*cis"si*tude (?), n. [L. vicissitudo, fr. vicis change, turn: cf. F. vicissitude. See Vicarious.]
1.
Regular change or succession from one thing to another; alternation; mutual succession; interchange.
God made two great lights . . .
To illuminate the earth and rule the day
In their vicissitude, and rule the night.
Milton.
2.
Irregular change; revolution; mutation.
This man had, after many vicissitudes of fortune, sunk at last into abject and hopeless poverty.
Macaulay.
© Webster 1913.