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circumstance Definition

cir·cum·stance (sʉr′kəm stans′, -stəns)

noun

  1. a fact or event accompanying another, either incidentally or as an essential condition or determining factor circumstances alter cases
  2. any happening or fact; event
  3. conditions surrounding and affecting a person, esp. financial conditions in comfortable circumstances
  4. chance; luck circumstance would have it so
  5. ceremony; show pomp and circumstance
    1. accompanying or surrounding detail
    2. fullness of detail

Etymology: OFr < L circumstantia, a standing around, condition < circumstare < circum, around + stare, stand

transitive verb -·stanced′, -·stanc′·ing

to place in certain circumstances

circumstance Related Forms
cir′·cum·stanced′ adjective
circumstance Idioms

under no circumstances

under no conditions; never

under the circumstances

conditions being what they are or were

circumstance Synonyms

circumstance

n.

  1. An attendant condition

    situation, condition, contingency, phase, factor, detail, item, fact, case, place, time, cause, state, status, element, particular, feature, point, incident, proviso, article, stipulation, concern, matter, thing, event, adjunct, occurrence, juncture, exigency, intervention, supervention, fortuity, coincidence, concurrent event, chance, happenstance*; see also state 2.

  2. An occurrence

    event, episode, happening, incident; see event 1. See syn. study at occurrence.

circumstance Law Definition

n

An act, condition, event, or fact connected with another act, condition, event, or fact either as an accessory or as a contributing or determining element.
aggravating circumstance
A circumstance that increases the culpability or liability of a person or the measure of damages or punishment for a crime or tort.
exigent circumstance
  1. An urgent situation that demands extraordinary or immediate action. Such a circumstance often allows for the circumvention of procedures that would otherwise be required by law. For example, if a car hits a child, the fact that immediate medical attention is needed to save the child’s life is an exigent circumstance that excuses the physician’s treatment of the child before parental consent is obtained.
  2. An urgent situation in which a law enforcement officer who has probable cause must take immediate steps to make an arrest, search, or seizure without a warrant because someone’s life or safety is at risk or because there is an imminent threat that a suspect will escape or evidence will be removed or destroyed.
mitigating circumstance
  1. A circumstance (such as having a mental defect at the time of the wrongdoing) that does not exonerate, but reduces the culpability of, a person for a tort or crime he has committed and that may result in a reduction of the damages or punishment to be imposed. See also diminished capacity.
  2. A circumstance (such as turning oneself in for arrest) that does not reduce a person’s culpability for a crime he has committed, but that may result in a reduction of the punishment to be imposed. See also negligence and defense.
circumstance Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • extenuate: No evidence was presented to suggest cause or extenuating circumstances.
  • suit: Its loss is however not greatly to be regretted; most conditions need to be carefully drafted to suit the specific circumstances.
  • prevail: The Big Red Wine Company will not be liable for failure to meet agreed obligations due to prevailing circumstances beyond its control.
  • mitigate: Generally mitigating circumstances for failure to complete require to be considered by the Door Steward Registration Panel.
  • differ: Understanding Children and Health Inequalities: the views and experiences of children in differing socio-economic circumstances.
  • prescribe: These regulations prescribe the circumstances in which standards committees of relevant authorities may grant such dispensations.

Adjective modifier

  • exceptional: Only exceptional circumstances justify starting a claim in the High Court.
  • certain: A director of a company may in certain circumstances be made liable for the debts of the company of which he is a director.
  • unforeseen: Due to unforeseen circumstances we cannot now afford to have both done.
  • mitigating: Tho being a native of New Zealand I do admit to the possibility of mitigating circumstances.
  • normal: In normal circumstances, notification should be made in writing.
  • particular: Would the animal head upstream or downstream in a particular circumstance?

Modifies a noun

  • change: As circumstances change, the papers will be updated and published on the ABPI's website.

Noun used with modifier

  • family: Adult learning refund policy Once a course has begun, we will only consider refund requests in exceptional personal or family circumstances.
  • housing: Also, an uncomfortably high proportion of clients were unhappy about their housing circumstances and we have been working on this.

Possessives

  • borrower: One is that technology allows lenders to make a more accurate assessment of a borrower's circumstances, for example, through credit scoring.
  • applicant: Admission into the workhouse first required an interview to establish the applicant's circumstances.

Preposition: of

  • case: Legal advice must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case; laws are constantly changing.
  • death: The Day of the Death Little is known about the circumstances of the death.
  • separation: Legislation will be introduced to safeguard the welfare of children in circumstances of parental separation and to improve the process of inter-country adoption.
circumstance Quotes

Dost thou look back on what hath been, As some divinely gifted man, Whose life in low estate began And on a simple village green; Who breaks his birth's invidious bar, And grasps the skirts of happy chance, And breasts the blows of circumstance, And grapples with his evil star.

—Tennyson

Art and Religion are, then, two roads by which men escape from circumstance to ecstasy.

—Bell, (Arthur) Clive Howard

I can foresee no circumstance in which I would allow my name to be put forward for the leadership of the Conservative Party.

—Heseltine, Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron

In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud: Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody but unbowed.

—Henley,W(illiam) E(rnest)

Shewouldnot havehimreallysuspect suchacircumstance as her not being thought perfect byevery body.

—Austen,Jane