circumstance
NounOpen English WordNet
Noun (4)circumstances
- a condition that accompanies or influences some event or activityType of condition, statusKinds event, playing field, hinge
- the set of facts or circumstances that surround a situation or event“the historical context”Synonyms: contextsettingType of environmentKinds conditions
- information that should be kept in mind when making a decision“another consideration is the time it would take”Synonyms: conditionconsiderationType of informationKinds justification, mitigating circumstance
- formal ceremony about important occasions“pomp and circumstance”Type of ceremony, ceremonial
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Translations
Noun condition, surrounding fact
- Spanish
- circunstancia
- French
- circonstance
- German
- Umstand
- Italian
- circostanza
- Portuguese
- circunstância
- Turkish
- durum
- Russian
- обстоя́тельство obstojátelʹstvo
- Arabic
- ظَرْف ẓarf
- Chinese
- 情况 qíngkuàng
- Japanese
- 状況 jōkyō
19 more languages
- Dutch
- omstandigheid
- Polish
- okoliczność
- Swedish
- omständighet
- Hungarian
- körülmény
- Portuguese (PT)
- circunstância
- Chinese (Trad.)
- 情況 qíngkuàng
- Albanian
- rrethanë
- Catalan
- circumstància
- Czech
- okolnost
- Danish
- omstændighed
- Esperanto
- cirkonstanco
- Georgian
- გარემოება garemoeba
- Latvian
- apstāklis
- Lithuanian
- aplinkybė
- Norwegian
- omstendighet
- Romanian
- circumstanță
- Scottish Gaelic
- cor
- Serbo-Croatian
- okolnost
- Welsh
- amgylchiad
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: 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.
The circumstances are well known in the country where they happened.— Washington Irving
2. An event; a fact; a particular incident.
The sculptor had in his thoughts the conqueror weeping for new worlds, or the like circumstances in history.— Joseph Addison
3. Circumlocution; detail. obsolete
So without more circumstance at all I hold it fit that we shake hands and part.— William Shakespeare
4. pl. Condition in regard to worldly estate; state of property; situation; surroundings.
When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations.— Joseph Addison
Not a circumstance, of no account. colloquial — Under the circumstances, taking all things into consideration.
Synonyms: Event; occurrence; incident; situation; condition; position; fact; detail; item. See Event.
To place in a particular situation; to supply relative incidents.
The poet took the matters of fact as they came down to him and circumstanced them, after his own manner.— Joseph Addison
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54