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Circumstantial evidence   /sˌərkəmstˈæntʃəl ˈɛvədəns/   Listen
noun
Evidence  n.  
1.
That which makes evident or manifest; that which furnishes, or tends to furnish, proof; any mode of proof; the ground of belief or judgement; as, the evidence of our senses; evidence of the truth or falsehood of a statement. "Faith is... the evidence of things not seen." "O glorious trial of exceeding love Illustrious evidence, example high."
2.
One who bears witness. (R.) "Infamous and perjured evidences."
3.
(Law) That which is legally submitted to competent tribunal, as a means of ascertaining the truth of any alleged matter of fact under investigation before it; means of making proof; the latter, strictly speaking, not being synonymous with evidence, but rather the effect of it.
Circumstantial evidence, Conclusive evidence, etc. See under Circumstantial, Conclusive, etc.
Crown's evidence, King's evidence, or Queen's evidence, evidence for the crown, in English courts; equivalent to state's evidence in American courts. (Eng.)
State's evidence, evidence for the government or the people. (U. S.)
To turn King's evidence To turn Queen's evidence, or To turn State's evidence, to confess a crime and give evidence against one's accomplices.
Synonyms: Testimony; proof. See Testimony.


adjective
circumstantial  adj.  
1.
Consisting in, or pertaining to, circumstances or particular incidents. "The usual character of human testimony is substantial truth under circumstantial variety."
2.
Incidental; relating to, but not essential. "We must therefore distinguish between the essentials in religious worship... and what is merely circumstantial."
3.
Abounding with circumstances; detailing or exhibiting all the circumstances; minute; particular. "Tedious and circumstantial recitals."
Circumstantial evidence (Law), evidence obtained from circumstances, which necessarily or usually attend facts of a particular nature, from which arises presumption. According to some authorities circumstantial is distinguished from positive evidence in that the latter is the testimony of eyewitnesses to a fact or the admission of a party; but the prevalent opinion now is that all such testimony is dependent on circumstances for its support. All testimony is more or less circumstantial..
Synonyms: See Minute.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Circumstantial evidence" Quotes from Famous Books



... ever existed—was probably a drunkard, not an uncommon complaint in that settlement, or a person qualified for the state asylum. The inference is drawn from strong circumstantial evidence, and not from prejudice. As witness, the saloon seemed to have claimed his most serious effort as a piece of finished construction. Here his weakness peeps through in no uncertain manner. The bar occupies at least half of the building, and the fittings of it are large enough to accommodate ...
— The One-Way Trail - A story of the cattle country • Ridgwell Cullum
... he goes off on a spree in the same quarter, what does he see but a border dog strung up by the neck, who has been seized and condemned as many an innocent fellow has been before him on circumstantial evidence, and he laughs and says to himself, 'What fools humans be, they don't know half as much as we dogs do.' So he thinks it would be as well to shift his ground, where folks ain't on the watch for sheep-stealers, and he makes a dash into a ...
— Nature and Human Nature • Thomas Chandler Haliburton
... the trap, he would almost certainly have been hanged. Now how often may not a plan to throw the guilt of murder on an innocent person have been practised successfully? There are, I imagine, numbers of cases in which the accused, being found guilty on circumstantial evidence, have died protesting their innocence. I shall never approve again of a death-sentence imposed in a ...
— Trent's Last Case - The Woman in Black • E.C. (Edmund Clerihew) Bentley
... once introduced to General Valdez the American prisoner who had suffered so long and unjustly. He recited the story of the abduction of the child, of Henderson's pursuit, of the killing of the trooper, and of the circumstantial evidence that implicated the Texan and upon which he was convicted. He then drew from his pocket a signed and attested copy of the confession of the knife thrower and handed it ...
— Bucky O'Connor • William MacLeod Raine
... negative conclusion of this kind. We must find out what natural causes bring about variations in animals and plants; and we must also find out what kinds of variations are inherited, and how they are inherited. If the circumstantial evidence for organic evolution, furnished by comparative anatomy, embryology and paleontology is cogent, we should be able to observe evolution going on at the present time, i.e. we should be able to observe the occurrence of variations and their transmission. ...
— A Critique of the Theory of Evolution • Thomas Hunt Morgan


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