CIRCUMSTANTIAL • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Circumstantial

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/sˌərkəmstˈæntʃəl/ /sˌərkəmstˈænʃəl/ Listen

adjective

circumstantial adj.

1.

Consisting in, or pertaining to, circumstances or particular incidents. "The usual character of human testimony is substantial truth under circumstantial variety."

2.

Incidental; relating to, but not essential. "We must therefore distinguish between the essentials in religious worship... and what is merely circumstantial."

3.

Abounding with circumstances; detailing or exhibiting all the circumstances; minute; particular. "Tedious and circumstantial recitals."

Circumstantial evidence (Law), evidence obtained from circumstances, which necessarily or usually attend facts of a particular nature, from which arises presumption. According to some authorities circumstantial is distinguished from positive evidence in that the latter is the testimony of eyewitnesses to a fact or the admission of a party; but the prevalent opinion now is that all such testimony is dependent on circumstances for its support. All testimony is more or less circumstantial..

Synonyms: See Minute.

noun

Circumstantial n. Something incidental to the main subject, but of less importance; opposed to an essential; generally in the plural; as, the circumstantials of religion.

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Etymology of 'Circumstantial'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Circumstantial" Quotes from Famous Books

... to caper in this style, Trying to make a foot-cloth of my banner. You ought to know the temper of our Isle, You've tested it in circumstantial manner. Down before SOULT and JUNOT you'd have gone But for that very flag, ...

— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 98, January 18, 1890 • Various

... World Kin Why Darwin Pleased the Socialists Darwin and Karl Marx Why Darwin pleased the Profiteers also The Poetry and Purity of Materialism The Viceroys of the King of Kings Political Opportunism in Excelsis The Betrayal of Western Civilization Circumstantial Selection in Finance The Homeopathic Reaction against Darwinism Religion and Romance The Danger of Reaction A Touchstone for Dogma What to do with the Legends A Lesson from Science to the Churches The Religious Art of the ...

— Back to Methuselah • George Bernard Shaw

... a later date, he made Grey expunge, in his book on Colonial Policy, details of the outrage which followed the passing of the Act; for, said he, "I am strongly of opinion that nothing but evil can result from the publication, at this period, of a detailed and circumstantial statement of the disgraceful proceedings which took place after the Bill passed.... The surest way to arrest a process of conversion is to dwell on the errors of the past, and to place in a broad light the contrast between present sentiments and those of an earlier ...

— British Supremacy & Canadian Self-Government - 1839-1854 • J. L. Morison

... and by the Governor of the Colony of New York, all of whom found occasion for his services in their transactions with the Indians. The facts which I shall present in their chronological order, and the strong circumstantial evidence adduced therefrom, will indicate the reasons why I have unraveled the threads of this Indian's life from the weft of the past, and why the recital of his career should be the theme of a special ...

— John Eliot's First Indian Teacher and Interpreter Cockenoe-de-Long Island and The Story of His Career from the Early Records • William Wallace Tooker

... circumstantial evidence. But sometimes that is the strongest kind. Naturally, he would take the greatest care not to have any witnesses to the theft. The proof seems strong and many a man has ...

— The Rushton Boys at Rally Hall - Or, Great Days in School and Out • Spencer Davenport

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