circumstantial, a. and n.
(sɜːkəmˈstænʃəl)
[f. L. circumstantia + -al1. Cf. F. circonstanciel.]
A. adj.
1. Of, relating to, or dependent on circumstances. circumstantial evidence: indirect evidence inferred from circumstances which afford a certain presumption, or appear explainable only on one hypothesis; so the lie circumstantial (Shakes.): a contradiction given indirectly by circumstances or details.
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. v. iv. 86 The counter-checke quarrelsome: and so to lye circumstantiall, and the lye direct.{ddd}I durst go no further then the lye circumstantial. 1616 S. S. Honest Lawyer I iv b, In case of Murder, should we never iudge By circumstanciall likelihoods and presumptions, No life could be secure. 1672 Wilkins Nat. Relig. 203 Representing God as..provoked by every little circumstantial mistake. 1736 Butler Anal. ii. vii. 289 To determine with exactness the weight of circumstantial evidence. 1754 Edwards Freed. Will i. §5. 30 There is a circumstantial Difference between the moral agency of a Ruler and a Subject..arising from the Difference of Circumstances. 1841 Myers Cath. Th. iii. §6. 21 We find the words of our Lord..repeated by the different Evangelists with circumstantial variations. 1863 Thoreau Excursions 31 Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk. |
b. esp. Of circumstances as opposed to essentials: Adventitious, accidental, incidental or unimportant.
| 1608 Hieron Defence iii. 48 What is accidentall, circumstantiall, and of a temporary use. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows v. §1. 410 Circumstantiall words, which are as bonds to knit word to word, it leaveth to be understood. a 1714 J. Sharp Serm. VII. x. (R.), We must therefore distinguish between..what enters the nature of the action, and what is merely circumstantial. 1870 Lowell Study Wind. 225 A principle of life is the first requirement of art; all else is circumstantial and secondary. |
2. Full of circumstances, details or minutiæ, minutely detailed, particular.
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. v. v. 383 This fierce abridgement, Hath to it Circumstantiall branches. 1727 Swift What passed in Lond., Rather as a sketch, than a regular circumstantial history. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) IV. 52 With the same circumstantial detail. 1790 Paley Horæ Paul. i. 6 Contemporary accounts equally circumstantial. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. ii. 182 We cannot suppose Cavendish to have invented so circumstantial a narrative. |
b. Of persons: Particular as to details (in description or narration).
| 1716 Addison Freeh. No. 42 (Seager) We cannot be too minute and circumstantial in accounts of this nature. 1741 Walpole Lett. H. Mann 24 Dec., Tell me..if I am too circumstantial. 1841 Borrow Zincali I. 255, I have already been more circumstantial and particular than the case required. 1873 Burton Hist. Scot. VI. lxxii. 301 The circumstantial Baillie having accompanied the host. |
3. Full of circumstance or pomp; ceremonial.
| 1710 Pope Lett. Cromw. 12 Oct., He will be content to..leave all the circumstantial part and pomp of life to those, who, etc. 1847 De Quincey Sp. Mil. Nun §20 (1853) 65 Where..the marriage ceremony could be performed with more circumstantial splendour. |
4. Of persons: ? Distinguished merely by the ‘pomp and circumstance’ of their position.
| 1648–9 Milton Tenure Kings 24 Petty caveats, and circumstances..ever stood upon most by circumstantial men. 1830 Fraser's Mag. I. 736 The moral man is nothing—the circumstantial man, or the man in power, every thing. |
5. Pertaining to circumstances of material welfare.
| [1702 S. Parker tr. Cicero's De Fin. 342 Prosperous or Adverse Fortune, External or Circumstantial Good and Ill.] 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1865) 148 Our political strength and circumstantial prosperity. 1816–7 ― Lay Serm. 394 The wealth and circumstantial prosperity of the nation. 1858 Holland Titcomb's Lett. iv. 120 He has not so many attractions, personal or circumstantial, as others. |
† 6. Standing around, surrounding. Obs.
| 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 70 Not only in the Ball or Apple of the Eye, but of the circumstantial parts of the Eye-lids, Hairs, and Eye-brows. |
B. n. (pl.) Circumstantial matters; particulars, details, attendant circumstances.
| 1647 Sprigge Anglia Rediv. iv. ix. (1854) 302 Anything..wanting circumstantials, for the better performing of the things intended therein. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. 359 Clogged with too many circumstantials. 1877 Masson Milton (Globe ed.) 457 Perhaps he remembered the exact incident and its circumstantials with half a blush. |
b. esp. Incidental or adventitious features, non-essentials.
| a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. vi. 195 The difference..seems rather to lie in circumstantials than in any thing essential. 1775 Harris Phil. Arrang. (1841) 256 Each possesses its proper attributes, and is at the same time encompassed with certain circumstantials. 1788 Wesley Wks. (1872) VI. 263 Ye fools and blind! to fix your whole attention on the circumstantials of religion! 1843 G. Dodds Farewell Disc., We should then learn the difference between substantials and circumstantials. |
† c. rarely sing.
| 1646 Gillespie Malè Audis 26 Is the Sabbath onely a circumstantiall of time contra-distinct from matters of duty? |