circumstance

• circumstaunce (obsolete)

From Middle English circumstaunce, from Old French circonstance, from Latin circumstantia.

• (Received Pronunciation, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜːkəmst(ə)ns/, /-ɑːns/, /-æns/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɝ.kəmˌstæns/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜːkəmstæns/, /-aːns/

• Audio (US):

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• Hyphenation: cir‧cum‧stance

circumstance (countable and uncountable, plural circumstances)

1. Something which is related to, or in some way affects, a fact or event.

   The report should focus on to the current circumstances of the organisation, to help us find a way to grow in the future.

   She went missing in somewhat spooky circumstances.

   • 1819, Washington Irving, The Broken Heart:

     The circumstances are well known in the country where they happened.

   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, in The Tragedy in Dartmoor Terrace, →OL:

     The story of this adoption is, of course, the pivot round which all the circumstances of the mysterious tragedy revolved. Mrs. Yule had an only son, namely, William, to whom she was passionately attached; but, like many a fond mother, she had the desire of mapping out that son's future entirely according to her own ideas. […]

2. An event; a fact; a particular incident, occurrence, or condition (status).

   Coordinate terms: accident, happenstance

   • 1705, J Addison, “Florence”, in Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC, page 413:

     I have ſeen Two or Three antique Buſts of Alexander in the ſame Air and Poſture, and am apt to think the Sculptor had in his Thoughts the Conqueror's weeping for new Worlds, or ſome other the like Circumſtance of his History.

   • 1834, David Crockett, chapter I, in A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, of the State of Tennessee. , Philadelphia, Pa.: E L Carey and A Hart; Boston, Mass.: Allen & Ticknor, →OCLC, page 20:

     Then another circumstance happened, which made a lasting impression on my memory, though I was but a small child.

3. (archaic) Evasive or indirect language; circumlocution.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke:  (First Quarto), London: [Valentine Simmes] for N L and Iohn Trundell, published 1603, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:

     Right, you are in the right, and therefore / I holde it meet without more circumſtance at all, / Wee ſhake hands and part; […]

   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 310, column 1:

     But he (as louing his owne pride, and purpoſes) / Euades them, with a bumbaſt Circumſtance, / Horribly ſtufft with Epithites of warre,

   • 1614, John Cooke, Greene's Tu Quoque, London: John Trundle, page 83:

     Old Ger. You put vs to a needeleſſe labour ſir, / To runne and winde about for circumſtance, / When the plaine word, I thanke you, would have ſeru'd.

     Modernised: Old Ger. You put us to a needless labour sir, / To run and wind about for circumstance, / When the plain word, "I thank you", would have served.

4. Condition in regard to worldly estate; state of property; situation; surroundings.

   She was born into comfortable circumstances.

   • 1716 May 25 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 42. Monday, May 14. ”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; , volume IV, London: Jacob Tonson, , published 1721, →OCLC, page 514:

     When men are eaſy in their circumſtances, they are naturally enemies to innovations: […]

• circumstantial, coinstantial, circumspection

circumstance (third-person singular simple present circumstances, present participle circumstancing, simple past and past participle circumstanced)

1. To place in a particular situation, especially with regard to money or other resources.
   • 1858, Anthony Trollope, “Matrimonial Prospects”, in Doctor Thorne. , volume I, London: Chapman & Hall, , →OCLC, page 184:

     Frank muttered something. Tidings had in some shape reached his ears that his father was not comfortably circumstanced as regarded money.

   • 1949, Diderot Studies, volume 11, page 170:

     While also taxing Ferrein with the same motives, Diderot's account of his doings is much more circumstanced than La Mettrie's, and also much more amusing, thanks to the interpolation of the «bijoux» motif.