Circumstance

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  circumstance \cir"cum*stance\ (s[~e]r"k[u^]m*st[a^]ns), n. [L.
     circumstantia, fr. circumstans, -antis, p. pr. of circumstare
     to stand around; circum + stare to stand. See {Stand}.]
     1. That which attends, or relates to, or in some way affects,
        a fact or event; an attendant thing or state of things.
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              The circumstances are well known in the country
              where they happened.                  --W. Irving.
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     2. An event; a fact; a particular incident.
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              The sculptor had in his thoughts the conqueror
              weeping for new worlds, or the like circumstances in
              history.                              --Addison.
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     3. Circumlocution; detail. [Obs.]
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              So without more circumstance at all
              I hold it fit that we shake hands and part. --Shak.
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     4. pl. Condition in regard to worldly estate; state of
        property; situation; surroundings.
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              When men are easy in their circumstances, they are
              naturally enemies to innovations.     --Addison.
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     {Not a circumstance}, of no account. [Colloq.]
  
     {Under the circumstances}, taking all things into
        consideration.
  
     Syn: Event; occurrence; incident; situation; condition;
          position; fact; detail; item. See {Event}.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Circumstance \Cir"cum*stance\, v. t.
     To place in a particular situation; to supply relative
     incidents.
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           The poet took the matters of fact as they came down to
           him and circumstanced them, after his own manner.
                                                    --Addison.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  circumstance
       n 1: a condition that accompanies or influences some event or
            activity
       2: the set of facts or circumstances that surround a situation
          or event; "the historical context" [syn: {context}]
       3: information that should be kept in mind when making a
          decision; "another consideration is the time it would
          take" [syn: {condition}, {consideration}]
       4: formal ceremony about important occasions; "pomp and
          circumstance"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  115 Moby Thesaurus words for "circumstance":
     absolute fact, accepted fact, actual fact, adjunct, admitted fact,
     adventure, affair, appurtenance, aspect, axiom, bald fact,
     bare fact, bearings, brutal fact, case, circumstances, cold fact,
     component, conceded fact, condition, conditions, constituent,
     contents, datum, demonstrable fact, destiny, detail, doom, element,
     empirical fact, episode, established fact, estate, event,
     experience, fact, fact of experience, factor, feature, finances,
     fix, fixings, footing, formality, given fact, go, hap, happening,
     happenstance, hard fact, heraldry, incident, income,
     indisputable fact, inescapable fact, ingredient, integrant, item,
     jam, kismet, location, lot, makings, matter of fact, modality,
     mode, moira, naked fact, not guesswork, not opinion, occasion,
     occurrence, part, part and parcel, particular, pass, phenomenon,
     pickle, place, plain, plight, pomp, portion, position,
     positive fact, postulate, posture, predicament, pride,
     provable fact, rank, reality, resources, salient fact,
     self-evident fact, significant fact, simple fact, situation,
     sober fact, solemnity, specialty, spot, standing, state,
     state of affairs, station, status, stubborn fact, the case,
     the nitty-gritty, thing, turn of events, undeniable fact, weird,
     well-known fact