Word of the Day

: November 28, 2007

adversity

noun ad-VER-suh-tee

What It Means

: a state, condition, or instance of serious or continued difficulty or adverse fortune

adversity in Context

The movie is about a group of determined mountain climbers who triumph in the face of adversity.

Did You Know?

"Adversity," "mischance," "misfortune," and "mishap" all suggest difficulty of one sort or another. "Adversity" particularly applies to a state of grave or persistent misfortune (as in "a childhood marked by great adversity"). "Mishap" suggests an often trivial instance of bad luck (as in "the usual mishaps of a family vacation"). "Misfortune" is the most common and the most general of the terms, often functioning as a simple synonym of "bad luck" (as in "They had the misfortune to get a flat tire on the way to their wedding"). "Mischance" applies especially to a situation involving no more than slight inconvenience or minor annoyance (as in "Some small mischance befell us").