ups and downs

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

ups and downs pl (plural only)

1. (idiomatic) Periods of positive and negative events, moods, or interactions; highs and lows.

   Heidi and Mike had their ups and downs, but they stayed married for more than 60 years.

   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Our Street, page 34:

     So it is the world wags: that honest men and knaves alike are always having ups and downs of fortune, and that we are perpetually changing tenants in Our Street.

2. Undulations.
   • 1960 August, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Trains Illustrated, page 463:

     [...] speed barely exceeded 30 m.p.h. until well beyond Kelty and from the front end the ups-and-downs of the track occasioned by pitfalls are very noticeable.

Synonyms

• vicissitudes (formal)

Translations

idiomatic

• Catalan: alts i baixos m pl
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 甘苦 (gam¹ fu²)

  Hokkien: 甘苦 (kam-khóo)

  Mandarin: 起伏 (zh) (qǐfú), 盛衰 (zh) (shèngshuāi), 浮沈 (zh) (fúchén), 浮沉 (zh) (fúchén), 沈浮 (zh) (chénfú), 沉浮 (zh) (chénfú), 甘苦 (zh) (gānkǔ)

• Finnish: ylä- ja alamäet, ylämäet ja alamäet
• French: des hauts et des bas (fr)
• German: Höhen und Tiefen f pl
• Italian: alti e bassi
• Japanese: 起伏 (ja) (きふく, kifuku), 浮き沈み (うきしずみ, ukishizumi)
• Latvian: baltās un nebaltās dienas
• Persian: پستی و بلندی (pasti-o-bolandi), فراز و فرود (farâz-o-forud), فراز و نشیب (farâz-o-našib)
• Polish: wzloty i upadki (pl)
• Portuguese: altos e baixos (pt) m pl
• Russian: взлёты и паде́ния pl (vzljóty i padénija)
• Spanish: altibajos (es) m pl, vicisitud (es) f
• Swedish: upp- och nedgångar c pl
• Telugu: ఆటుపోట్లు (āṭupōṭlu)
• Turkish: acısı ve tatlısı (bittersweet), inişli çıkışlı