1 [C,usually pl.] the conditions and facts that are connected with and affect a situation, an event or an action:
The company reserves the right to cancel this agreement in certain circumstances. * changing social and political circumstances * I know I can trust her in any circumstance. * Police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the boy's death. * The ship sank in mysterious circumstances. * She never discovered the true circumstances of her birth.
2 (circumstances) [pl.] the conditions of a person's life, especially the money they have:
Grants are awarded according to your financial circumstances. * family / domestic / personal circumstances
3 [U] (formal) situations and events that affect and influence your life and that are not in your control:
a victim of circumstance (= a person who has suffered because of a situation that they cannot control) * He had to leave the country through force of circumstance (= events or the situation made it necessary). * We were simply thrown together by circumstance on the long journey.
IDIOMS
in / under the circumstances used before or after a statement to show that you have thought about the conditions that affect a situation before making a decision or a statement:
Under the circumstances, it seemed better not to tell him about the accident. * She did the job very well in the circumstances.
in / under no circumstances used to emphasize that sth should never happen or be allowed:
Under no circumstances should you lend Paul any money. * Don't open the door, in any circumstances.
moreatPOMP, REDUCE
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
Where does this definition of circumstance come from?
This entry for circumstance is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Is circumstance a noun, verb, or something else?
In this entry, circumstance is tagged as noun.
Does circumstance appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — circumstance appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
