circumstantial

comparative more circumstantial · superlative most circumstantial

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

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

   1754, John Sharp, Sermons

   1 more example

   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.

   2000 September 7, Henry Gee, “Eating people - is it bad taste?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 09 May 2014

2. lawInvolving evidence that relies on inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact, thus, suggesting guilt but not directly proving it.

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

   1 more example

   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.

   1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 162

3. Abounding with minor circumstances; in great detail; particular.

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

   1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, V.ii

   2 more examples

   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 […]

   1806, James Wilkinson, Letter to Thomas Jefferson (October 21, 1806) (part of Burr conspiracy)

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

   2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin, published 2009, page 326

4. Full of circumstance or pomp; ceremonial.

plural circumstantials

1. in pluralSomething incidental to the main subject, but of less importance.

   the circumstantials of religion

   Antonyms: essential

2. grammarAn adjunct or circumstant.