mutability in life or nature (especially successive alternation from one condition to another)
a variation in circumstances or fortune at different times in your life or in the development of something; "the project was subject to the usual vicissitudes of exploratory research"
the act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean
a change for the worse
a change (usually undesired) in the waveform of an acoustic or analog electrical signal; the difference between two measurements of a signal (as between the input and output signal); "heavy metal guitar players use vacuum tube amplifiers to produce extreme distortion"
marked by eagerness to resort to violence and bloodshed; "bloody-minded tyrants"; "bloodthirsty yells"; "went after the collaborators with a sanguinary fury that drenched the land with blood"-G.W.Johnson
the size of something as given by the distance around it
the length of the closed curve of a circle
the boundary line encompassing an area or object; "he had walked the full circumference of his land"; "a danger to all races over the whole circumference of the globe"
giving offense to moral sensibilities and injurious to reputation; "scandalous behavior"; "the wicked rascally shameful conduct of the bankrupt"- Thackeray; "the most shocking book of its time"
causing distress or worry or anxiety; "distressing (or disturbing) news"; "lived in heroic if something distressful isolation"; "a disturbing amount of crime"; "a revelation that was most perturbing"; "a new and troubling thought"; "in a particularly worrisome predicament"; "a worrying situation"; "a worrying time"
showing the cunning or ingenuity or wickedness typical of a devil; "devilish schemes"; "the cold calculation and diabolic art of some statesmen"; "the diabolical expression on his face"; "a mephistophelian glint in his eye"
playful in an appealingly bold way; "a roguish grin"
a person who is frightened and in need of help; "they prey on the hopes of the desperate"
showing extreme courage; especially of actions courageously undertaken in desperation as a last resort; "made a last desperate attempt to reach the climber"; "the desperate gallantry of our naval task forces marked the turning point in the Pacific war"- G.C.Marshall; "they took heroic measures to save his life"
fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless; "a desperate illness"; "on all fronts the Allies were in a desperate situation due to lack of materiel"- G.C.Marshall; "a dire emergency"
showing extreme urgency or intensity especially because of great need or desire; "felt a desperate urge to confess"; "a desperate need for recognition"
desperately determined; "do-or-die revolutionaries"; "a do-or-die conflict"
(of persons) dangerously reckless or violent as from urgency or despair; "a desperate criminal"; "taken hostage of desperate men"