Noun

(en noun)

That which is done or is to be done; matter; concern; business of any kind, commercial, professional, or public; — often in the plural.

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Any proceeding or action which it is wished to refer to or characterize vaguely.

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(lb) An action or engagement not of sufficient magnitude to be called a battle.

A material object (vaguely designated).

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*

*:The house was a big elaborate limestone affair , evidently new. Winter sunshine sparkled on lace-hung casement, on glass marquise, and the burnished bronze foliations of grille and door.

*{{quote-book, year=1944, author=(w)

, title= The Three Corpse Trick, section=chapter 5 , passage=The dinghy was trailing astern at the end of its painter, and Merrion looked at it as he passed. He saw that it was a battered-looking affair of the prahm type, with a blunt snout, and like the parent ship, had recently been painted a vivid green.}}

An adulterous relationship (from affaire de cœur ).

Noun

(en noun)

Regular change or succession from one thing to another, or one part of a cycle to the next; alternation; mutual succession; interchange.

(often, in the plural) a change, especially in one's life or fortunes.

* 1667 , , Paradise Lost , vii, 351,

And God made.. the Stars, and set them in the firmament of Heaven to illuminate the Earth, and rule the day in their vicissitude ...

* 2003 , "US redeployments afoot in Asia", Christian Science Monitor , Nov. 18, Pg. 6.,

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.

* Seneca

Happy is the man who can endure the highest and lowest fortune. He who has endured such vicissitudes with equanimity has deprived misfortune of its power.