CIRCUMSTANCE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does circumstance mean? 

• CIRCUMSTANCE (noun)
  The noun CIRCUMSTANCE has 4 senses:

1. a condition that accompanies or influences some event or activity

2. the set of facts or circumstances that surround a situation or event

3. information that should be kept in mind when making a decision

4. formal ceremony about important occasions

  Familiarity information: CIRCUMSTANCE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CIRCUMSTANCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A condition that accompanies or influences some event or activity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("circumstance" is a kind of...):

condition; status (a state at a particular time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "circumstance"):

case; event (a special set of circumstances)

hinge (a circumstance upon which subsequent events depend)

playing field (the circumstances under which competition occurs)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The set of facts or circumstances that surround a situation or event

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

circumstance; context; setting

Context example:

the historical context

Hypernyms ("circumstance" is a kind of...):

environment (the totality of surrounding conditions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "circumstance"):

conditions (the set of circumstances that affect someone's welfare)

conditions (the prevailing context that influences the performance or the outcome of a process)

Derivation:

circumstantial (fully detailed and specific about particulars)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Information that should be kept in mind when making a decision

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

circumstance; condition; consideration

Context example:

another consideration is the time it would take

Hypernyms ("circumstance" is a kind of...):

information (knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "circumstance"):

justification (something (such as a fact or circumstance) that shows an action to be reasonable or necessary)

mitigating circumstance ((law) a circumstance that does not exonerate a person but which reduces the penalty associated with the offense)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Formal ceremony about important occasions

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Context example:

pomp and circumstance

Hypernyms ("circumstance" is a kind of...):

ceremonial; ceremonial occasion; ceremony; observance (a formal event performed on a special occasion)

 Context examples 

“David Copperfield,” said Miss Murdstone, “I need not enlarge upon family circumstances. They are not a tempting subject.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I felt no compunction in doing so, for under the circumstances I felt that I should protect myself in every way I could.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It was in the spring of the year 1894 that all London was interested, and the fashionable world dismayed, by the murder of the Honourable Ronald Adair under most unusual and inexplicable circumstances.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Two days later this same performance was gone through under exactly similar circumstances.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is hard to maintain one’s dignity under such circumstances.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

In the warmth of the moment, and under a mistaken impression, I might, perhaps, have endeavoured to interest you in some circumstances; but not now.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I resisted all the way: a new thing for me, and a circumstance which greatly strengthened the bad opinion Bessie and Miss Abbot were disposed to entertain of me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

As the circumstances of my fall came back into my confused brain, I looked up in terror, expecting to see that dreadful head silhouetted against the paling sky.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Under the circumstances, what could Jo do but greet him civilly, and invite him in?

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

At that time he was a mere puppy, soft from the making, without form, ready for the thumb of circumstance to begin its work upon him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)