Picture an event in the middle, and all the facts standing in a ring around it — who was there, what the weather was, how much money there was, what had happened the week before. None of them is the event, but together they decide how it goes. The word is that ring, which is why English keeps saying under the circumstances: you act from inside the ring, not outside it.
From the word’s history
From Latin circumstantia 'surrounding condition', from circum 'around' + stare 'to stand' — literally the things that stand around something. English had it by about 1200 for a fact that modifies another fact, and by the mid-14th century for a person's surroundings; the plural sense 'condition of life, material welfare' is recorded from 1704.
來自拉丁文 circumstantia（周圍的狀況），由 circum（周圍）+ stare（站）組成，字面就是「站在四周的那些東西」。約 1200 年英文用它指「會改變另一個事實的事實」，到十四世紀中期擴大為「一個人身處的環境」；複數形指「生活條件、經濟狀況」則有 1704 年的紀錄。知道 circum-（如 circle）和 -stance（站立）這兩塊，這個長字就好記多了。
Etymonline, https://www.etymonline.com/word/circumstance
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料5 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
circumstancenoun/ˈsɜːkəmst(ə)ns/
- 1
Something which is related to, or in some way affects, a fact or event.
- The report should focus on to the current circumstances of the organisation, to help us find a way to grow in the future.
- She went missing in somewhat spooky circumstances.
- 2
An event; a fact; a particular incident, occurrence, or condition (status).
- I have ſeen Two or Three antique Buſts of Alexander in the ſame Air and Poſture, and am apt to think the Sculptor had in his Thoughts the Conqueror's weeping for new Worlds, or ſome other the like Circumſtance of his History.
- Then another circumstance happened, which made a lasting impression on my memory, though I was but a small child.
- 3
archaicEvasive or indirect language; circumlocution.
- Right, you are in the right, and therefore / I holde it meet without more circumſtance at all, / Wee ſhake hands and part; […]
- But he (as louing his owne pride, and purpoſes) / Euades them, with a bumbaſt Circumſtance, / Horribly ſtufft with Epithites of warre,
- 4
Condition in regard to worldly estate; state of property; situation; surroundings.
- She was born into comfortable circumstances.
- When men are eaſy in their circumſtances, they are naturally enemies to innovations: […]
circumstanceverb/ˈsɜːkəmst(ə)ns/
- 1
To place in a particular situation, especially with regard to money or other resources.
- Frank muttered something. Tidings had in some shape reached his ears that his father was not comfortably circumstanced as regarded money.
- While also taxing Ferrein with the same motives, Diderot's account of his doings is much more circumstanced than La Mettrie's, and also much more amusing, thanks to the interpolation of the «bijoux» motif.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。