circumstantial
/səːkəmˈstanʃ(ə)l
/adjective
1Pointing indirectly towards someone’s guilt but not conclusively proving it: the prosecution will have to rely on circumstantial evidence...
- Intent can, of course, always be proved through circumstantial evidence.
- As in national law, in international criminal law a culpable state of mind is normally proved in court by circumstantial evidence.
- It would be open to a jury to find that those facts are some circumstantial evidence which supports the Crown's case.
Synonyms
indirect, inferred, inferential, deduced, presumed, conjectural;
contingent;
inconclusive, unprovable
technical presumptive, implicative
2(Of a description) containing full details: the picture was so circumstantial that it began to be convincing...
- As it is not properly a term of the British marine, a more circumstantial account of it might be considered foreign to our plan.
- Her circumstantial account was accepted by thousands who had hitherto remained sceptical.
- Sure, I can imagine some of the circumstantial detail that would make the story sound more immediate.
Synonyms
detailed, particularized, particular, precise, minute, blow-by-blow;
full, comprehensive, thorough, exhaustive;
explicit, specific
Derivatives
circumstantiality
/ noun ...- The concept of ‘worldliness’ for Said was a profound understanding of circumstantiality and the role of what Marx refers to as ‘sensuous’ human activity in interpretation.
- He adds that ‘A rhetorical education reminds us of the inevitable circumstantiality of all human judgment, but shows us how we can control and offset that circumstantiality.’
- His circumstantiality sometimes has the powerful effect so often remarked in the descriptions of Defoe.
circumstantially
- ‘You can prove the case circumstantially,’ she said.
- The circumstantially imposed corrections refer to the discursive move toward offering impartial, even detached, moral judgment.
- In order to be able to convict him, they're going to be able to tie him, circumstantially or through direct evidence, to the deaths of these individuals.
Origin
Late 16th century: from Latin circumstantia (see circumstance) + -al.