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circumstance

[sur-kuhm-stans, -stuhns] / ˈsɜr kəmˌstæns, -stəns /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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The ascension of Burnham owes less to secret machinations in smoke-filled backrooms than it does sheer circumstance.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 4, 2026

All they asked for was for their school to make an individualized assessment as to whether they could fairly play with their friends and classmates given their specific medical circumstance.

From Slate Jun. 30, 2026

As distressing as their circumstance is, Naim and Ryan are unmistakably positioned as heroic lovers, not victims-to-be.

From Los Angeles Times Jun. 19, 2026

Tom Gough, who was a close friend and teammate of Adam, agrees he "wouldn't feel so safe" stepping on to a pitch now "because of the circumstance that happened with Adam".

From BBC Jun. 10, 2026

Northern posturing on this matter was insufferable, as Jackson saw it, since their oozing arguments transformed a geographic accident and a product of historical circumstance into a willful sin.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Instead, the idea is to line up several potential funding sources and remain flexible as circumstances evolve.

From MarketWatch Jul. 27, 2026

On the other hand, the adviser’s perspective is that there are simply too many moving parts today, and that flexibility will likely produce better decisions as circumstances unfold.

From MarketWatch Jul. 27, 2026

“No one in command could claim under the circumstances not to have known what was happening, even if they did not give orders to those under their control to do it,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 26, 2026

Supt Judy Hill added that the "ongoing multi agency response remains a high priority, with significant partnership resources and volunteers working tirelessly and in challenging circumstances, to support our efforts to extinguish the fires".

From BBC Jul. 25, 2026

Many of the personalities of the men wouldn’t have meshed even under the best circumstances, let alone cooped up on a ship with nothing to do and nowhere to go.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong

Asian Americans and Latinos overstaying a visa are similarly circumstanced; however, a blind driver or a ten-year-old driver is differently circumstanced than a sighted, adult driver.

From Textbooks Jul. 28, 2021

According to the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause, “all persons similarly circumstanced shall be treated alike.”

From Textbooks Jul. 28, 2021

The moderately circumstanced pay according to their means.

From Time Magazine Archive

Doubtless most other foreign Powers are similarly circumstanced, and possibly even the U. S. Congress would refuse to bind the U. S. by the Kellogg formula.

From Time Magazine Archive

The plunder had been startlingly circumstanced, but its issue had been all I could have hoped.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson




Vocabulary lists containing circumstance


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