circumstance

Pluralcircumstances

1. 1
   related factnouncountable

   A fact, event, or condition that is connected with or affects a situation or event, often in the plural.

   The detective weighed every circumstance surrounding the disappearance.

   Several circumstances combined to make the project succeed.

   UsageUsually plural: the circumstances of an event, in or under the circumstances, under no circumstances (never).

   Note

   Two constructions carry most of its weight: the circumstances of something, as in Baroness Orczy's 'circumstances of the mysterious tragedy', and in some kind of circumstances, where an adjective does the describing, as with a disappearance in 'spooky circumstances'. The word came through Old French circonstance from Latin circumstantia, and it still names what bears on an event rather than the event itself.

2. 2
   money situationnounusually plural

   A person's condition with regard to money and property, and more generally their situation and surroundings in life.

   The family found themselves in reduced circumstances after the business failed.

   The scholarship is open to every qualified student, regardless of financial circumstance.

   UsageUsually plural, often with an adjective: reduced, comfortable or difficult circumstances; people live in them.

   Similarsituation, means, position, status, station

   Note

   Money and standing are the subject here. Joseph Addison in 1716 writes of men "easy in their circumstances", with a possessive doing the work. Without an adjective the word stays neutral: a change in circumstances says nothing about whether someone is rich or poor.

3. 3
   roundabout talknounarchaicuncountable

   Evasive or indirect language; circumlocution, talking around a subject rather than addressing it directly.

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

   c. 1603, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”

   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.

   1614, John Cooke, Greene's Tu Quoque

   Note

   Talk that circles its point instead of reaching it, a sense at home in the drama of around 1600. Shakespeare's Hamlet uses "without more circumstance at all" to mean without further ado. In Othello, a "bombast circumstance" is padded speech stuffed with epithets of war. John Cooke's Greene's Tu Quoque (1614) sets it against "the plain word." In old texts, do not confuse it with a fact bearing on an event. Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • The sense 'evasive or indirect language; circumlocution' is attested. en.wiktionary.org
   • The sense occurs in drama from around 1600, including Shakespeare's Hamlet. folgerpedia.folger.edu
   • In Hamlet, Hamlet says 'without more circumstance at all' before proposing that they shake hands and part; 'without further ado' fits the context. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
   • In Othello, Iago describes Othello's evasive speech as 'a bombast circumstance', stuffed with military epithets. folger.edu
   • John Cooke wrote Greene's Tu Quoque, printed in 1614. gutenberg.org
   • In Greene's Tu Quoque, Old Geraldine contrasts 'circumstance' with 'the plain word'. gutenberg.org

Showing meanings only. Show all 4