Circumstantiality
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Extreme attention to minute or irrelevant detail. uncountable
"Plushkin's list was distinguished by a conciseness of exposition which had led to certain of the items being represented merely by Christian name, patronymic, and a couple of dots; and Sobakevitch's list was remarkable for its amplitude and circumstantiality, in that not a single peasant had such of his peculiar characteristics omitted as that the deceased had been "excellent at joinery," or "sober and ready to pay attention to his work.""
- 2 A minor detail or circumstantial matter. countable
"There was much discussion at the time, in some of the public journals, upon the possibility of reconciling these incidents with other circumstantialities of the case, supposing that only one man had been concerned in the affair. That there was only one man concerned, seems to be certain."
Example
More examples"Plushkin's list was distinguished by a conciseness of exposition which had led to certain of the items being represented merely by Christian name, patronymic, and a couple of dots; and Sobakevitch's list was remarkable for its amplitude and circumstantiality, in that not a single peasant had such of his peculiar characteristics omitted as that the deceased had been "excellent at joinery," or "sober and ready to pay attention to his work.""
Etymology
From circumstantial + -ity.
More for "circumstantiality"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.