circumstance
• noun 1 a fact or condition connected with an event or action. 2 unforeseen events outside one’s control: a victim of circumstance. 3 (circumstances) one’s state of financial or material welfare. — PHRASES under (or in) the circumstances given the difficult nature of the situation. under (or in) no circumstances never. — ORIGIN Latin circumstantia, from circumstare ‘encircle, encompass’.
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