Adjacent Words

Circumstantial definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CIRCUMSTANTIAL, a.
1. Attending; relating to; but not essential.
2. Consisting in or pertaining to circumstances, or to particular incidents.
3. Incidental; casual.
4. Abounding with circumstances, or exhibiting all the circumstances; minute; particular; as a circumstantial account or recital.
5. In law, circumstantial evidence is that which is obtained from circumstances, which necessarily or usually attend facts of a particular nature, from which arises presumption.
CIRCUMSTANTIAL, n. Circumstantials, in the plural, are things incident to the main subject, but of less importance; opposed to essentials; as the circumstantials of religion.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: fully detailed and specific about particulars; "a circumstantial report about the debate"

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 1600 1. belonging to, consisting in, or dependent on circumstances <a circumstantial case> <circumstantial factors> 2. pertinent but not essential ; incidental 3. marked by careful attention to detail ; abounding in factual details <a circumstantial account of the fight> 4. ceremonial • circumstantiality noun • circumstantially adverb Synonyms: circumstantial, minute, particular, detailed mean dealing with a matter fully and usually point by point. circumstantial implies fullness of detail that fixes something described in time and space <a circumstantial account of our visit>. minute implies close and searching attention to the smallest details <a minute examination of a fossil>. particular implies a precise attention to every detail <a particular description of the scene of the crime>. detailed stresses abundance or completeness of detail <a detailed analysis of the event>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 given in full detail (a circumstantial account). 2 (of evidence, a legal case, etc.) tending to establish a conclusion by inference from known facts hard to explain otherwise. 3 a depending on circumstances. b adventitious, incidental. Derivatives: circumstantiality n. circumstantially adv. Etymology: L circumstantia: see CIRCUMSTANCE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Circumstantial Cir`cum*stan"tial, a. [Cf. F. circonstanciel.] 1. Consisting in, or pertaining to, circumstances or particular incidents. The usual character of human testimony is substantial truth under circumstantial variety. --Paley. 2. Incidental; relating to, but not essential. We must therefore distinguish between the essentials in religious worship . . . and what is merely circumstantial. --Sharp. 3. Abounding with circumstances; detailing or exhibiting all the circumstances; minute; particular. Tedious and circumstantial recitals. --Prior. 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. --Wharton. Syn: See Minute.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Circumstantial Cir`cum*stan"tial, n. Something incidental to the main subject, but of less importance; opposed to an essential; -- generally in the plural; as, the circumstantials of religion. --Addison.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Circumstantial evidence is evidence that makes it seem likely that something happened, but does not prove it. (FORMAL) Fast work by the police in Birmingham had started producing circumstantial evidence. ADJ: usu ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Particular, minute, detailed. 2. Indirect, inferential, presumptive, founded on circumstances.

Moby Thesaurus

absolute, accessory, accidental, accompanying, accurate, additional, adducible, admissible, ado, adscititious, adventitious, afloat, afoot, aleatory, appurtenant, ascititious, attestative, attestive, authentic, auxiliary, based on, blow-by-blow, casual, certain, chance, close, collateral, complete, conclusive, conditional, contingent, convincing, cumulative, current, damning, decisive, deduced, detailed, determinative, documentary, documented, doing, eventuating, evidential, evidentiary, ex parte, exact, explicit, extra, extraneous, eye-witness, factual, final, firsthand, fortuitous, founded on, full, going on, grounded on, happening, hearsay, implicative, implicit, implied, in hand, in the wind, incidental, incontrovertible, indicative, indirect, indisputable, inessential, inferential, inferred, interpretive, irrefutable, irresistible, itemized, material, minute, nice, nonessential, nuncupative, occasional, occurring, on, on foot, ongoing, overwhelming, particular, particularized, passing, precise, presumable, presumed, presumptive, prevailing, prevalent, probative, provisional, reliable, replete, resultant, secondary, significant, specific, strict, subsidiary, suggestive, superadded, superfluous, supervenient, supplemental, supplementary, sure, symptomatic, taking place, telling, thorough, under way, unessential, unimportant, valid, weighty