circumstantiality
Americannoun
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circumstantialities
plural
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the quality of being circumstantial; minuteness; fullness of detail.
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a circumstance; a detail.
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Psychiatry. a pattern of speech that seems to wander because of excessive detail but eventuallyreaches its goal idea.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of circumstantiality
First recorded in 1725–35; circumstantial + -ity
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.
See Examples For:
Willing as we were to believe our own side to be the most truthful, it was not always possible to ignore the circumstantiality of our opponents.
From In the Russian Ranks A Soldier's Account of the Fighting in Poland by John Morse
This myth comes to us from Germany—at all events, Mr. R. A. Proctor traced it there with much circumstantiality.
From Storyology Essays in Folk-Lore, Sea-Lore, and Plant-Lore by Benjamin Taylor
It seemed to her almost as if he took pleasure in the pleasing broad circumstantiality of the story as he told it.
From Gabriel A Story of the Jews in Prague by Spiegfried Kohn
Then with the painstaking circumstantiality of two old schoolmates luxuriating in memories, we talked over the tobacco-tag craze which swept through our school one winter.
From Aladdin & Co. A Romance of Yankee Magic by Herbert Quick
A little clever circumstantiality will lull any incipient suspicion; and it must be added that De Foe, in adopting the tone of a bonâ fide narrator, not unfrequently overreaches himself.
From Hours in a Library, Volume I. (of III.) by Sir Leslie Stephen
But from these narrower questions, directed to circumstantialities local and transitory, we wish to draw the reader's attention upon certain other questions larger and more philosophic.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 355, May 1845 by Various
Of course, persons acquainted with the subject have heard the story before, though not with all the circumstantialities now given.
From Notes and Queries, Number 82, May 24, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc by George Bell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
