Circumstantial

/səɹ.kəmˈstænʃəl/ · adjective

Meaning

Pertaining to or dependent on circumstances, especially as opposed to essentials; incidental, not essential..

Definitions by Sense

1. Pertaining to or dependent on circumstances, especially as opposed to essentials; incidental, not essential.
2. (law) Involving evidence that relies on inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact, thus, suggesting guilt but not directly proving it.
3. Abounding with minor circumstances; in great detail; particular.
4. Full of circumstance or pomp; ceremonial.
5. (chiefly in the plural) Something incidental to the main subject, but of less importance.
6. (grammar) An adjunct or circumstant.

Example Sentences

We must therefore distinguish between the essentials in religious worship […] and what is merely circumstantial.

Evidence for cannibalism abounds - even if circumstantial - both from the modern world and throughout history, but academic anthropology has found itself in a funk of denial.

It is unlikely he will be convicted; the evidence against him is circumstantial at best.

Never, he said, in the course of his long experience, had he known a charge of murder rest on slighter evidence. Not only was it entirely circumstantial, but the greater part of it was practically unproved.

For although my information appears too direct and circumstantial to be fictitious, yet the magnitude of the enterprise, the desperation of the plan, and the stupendous consequences with which it seems pregnant, stagger my belief […]

My Unkle's account is more circumstantial I must confess—but I believe mine is the true one for all that.

Second-hand but clearly from the best possible source - the King himself - [the story] is highly circumstantial, taking twenty-two pages of text.

the circumstantials of religion

Synonyms for circumstantial

Antonyms for circumstantial

Related Words

Word Forms

• more circumstantial
• most circumstantial
• circumstantials

Usage Notes

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