| 释义 |
circumstantial, a. and n.|sɜːkəmˈstænʃəl|
[f. L. circumstantia + -al1. Cf. F. circonstanciel.]
A. adj.
1. Of, relating to, or dependent on circumstances. circumstantial evidence: indirect evidence inferred from circumstances which afford a certain presumption, or appear explainable only on one hypothesis; so the lie circumstantial (Shakes.): a contradiction given indirectly by circumstances or details.
1600Shakes. A.Y.L. v. iv. 86 The counter-checke quarrelsome: and so to lye circumstantiall, and the lye direct.{ddd}I durst go no further then the lye circumstantial. 1616S. S. Honest Lawyer I iv b, In case of Murder, should we never iudge By circumstanciall likelihoods and presumptions, No life could be secure. 1672Wilkins Nat. Relig. 203 Representing God as..provoked by every little circumstantial mistake. 1736Butler Anal. ii. vii. 289 To determine with exactness the weight of circumstantial evidence. 1754Edwards Freed. Will i. §5. 30 There is a circumstantial Difference between the moral agency of a Ruler and a Subject..arising from the Difference of Circumstances. 1841Myers Cath. Th. iii. §6. 21 We find the words of our Lord..repeated by the different Evangelists with circumstantial variations. 1863Thoreau Excursions 31 Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk.
b. esp. Of circumstances as opposed to essentials: Adventitious, accidental, incidental or unimportant.
1608Hieron Defence iii. 48 What is accidentall, circumstantiall, and of a temporary use. 1631Gouge God's Arrows v. §1. 410 Circumstantiall words, which are as bonds to knit word to word, it leaveth to be understood. a1714J. Sharp Serm. VII. x. (R.), We must therefore distinguish between..what enters the nature of the action, and what is merely circumstantial. 1870Lowell Study Wind. 225 A principle of life is the first requirement of art; all else is circumstantial and secondary.
2. Full of circumstances, details or minutiæ, minutely detailed, particular.
1611Shakes. Cymb. v. v. 383 This fierce abridgement, Hath to it Circumstantiall branches. 1727Swift What passed in Lond., Rather as a sketch, than a regular circumstantial history. 1762–71H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) IV. 52 With the same circumstantial detail. 1790Paley Horæ Paul. i. 6 Contemporary accounts equally circumstantial. 1856Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. ii. 182 We cannot suppose Cavendish to have invented so circumstantial a narrative.
b. Of persons: Particular as to details (in description or narration).
1716Addison Freeh. No. 42 (Seager) We cannot be too minute and circumstantial in accounts of this nature. 1741Walpole Lett. H. Mann 24 Dec., Tell me..if I am too circumstantial. 1841Borrow Zincali I. 255, I have already been more circumstantial and particular than the case required. 1873Burton Hist. Scot. VI. lxxii. 301 The circumstantial Baillie having accompanied the host.
3. Full of circumstance or pomp; ceremonial.
1710Pope Lett. Cromw. 12 Oct., He will be content to..leave all the circumstantial part and pomp of life to those, who, etc. 1847De Quincey Sp. Mil. Nun §20 (1853) 65 Where..the marriage ceremony could be performed with more circumstantial splendour.
4. Of persons: ? Distinguished merely by the ‘pomp and circumstance’ of their position.
1648–9Milton Tenure Kings 24 Petty caveats, and circumstances..ever stood upon most by circumstantial men. 1830Fraser's Mag. I. 736 The moral man is nothing—the circumstantial man, or the man in power, every thing.
5. Pertaining to circumstances of material welfare.
[1702S. Parker tr. Cicero's De Fin. 342 Prosperous or Adverse Fortune, External or Circumstantial Good and Ill.] 1809–10Coleridge Friend (1865) 148 Our political strength and circumstantial prosperity. 1816–7― Lay Serm. 394 The wealth and circumstantial prosperity of the nation. 1858Holland Titcomb's Lett. iv. 120 He has not so many attractions, personal or circumstantial, as others.
†6. Standing around, surrounding. Obs.
1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 70 Not only in the Ball or Apple of the Eye, but of the circumstantial parts of the Eye-lids, Hairs, and Eye-brows.
B. n. (pl.) Circumstantial matters; particulars, details, attendant circumstances.
1647Sprigge Anglia Rediv. iv. ix. (1854) 302 Anything..wanting circumstantials, for the better performing of the things intended therein. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. 359 Clogged with too many circumstantials. 1877Masson Milton (Globe ed.) 457 Perhaps he remembered the exact incident and its circumstantials with half a blush.
b. esp. Incidental or adventitious features, non-essentials.
a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. vi. 195 The difference..seems rather to lie in circumstantials than in any thing essential. 1775Harris Phil. Arrang. (1841) 256 Each possesses its proper attributes, and is at the same time encompassed with certain circumstantials. 1788Wesley Wks. (1872) VI. 263 Ye fools and blind! to fix your whole attention on the circumstantials of religion! 1843G. Dodds Farewell Disc., We should then learn the difference between substantials and circumstantials.
†c. rarely sing.
1646Gillespie Malè Audis 26 Is the Sabbath onely a circumstantiall of time contra-distinct from matters of duty? |