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Individual vs Circumstantial - What's the difference?

individual | circumstantial | Related terms |

Individual is a related term of circumstantial.


As nouns the difference between individual and circumstantial

is that individual is a person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people while circumstantial is (chiefly|in the plural) something incidental to the main subject, but of less importance.

As adjectives the difference between individual and circumstantial

is that individual is relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one while circumstantial is pertaining to or dependent on circumstances, especially as opposed to essentials; incidental, not essential.

individual

English

Alternative forms

* individuall (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people.
  • (legal) A single physical human being as a legal subject, as opposed to a legal person such as a corporation.
  • * 1982 , Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms :
  • Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination […].
  • An object, be it a thing or an agent, as contrasted to a class.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2006, chapter=Identity and Individuality in Quantum Theory, title=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, author=Steven French citation
  • , passage=It is typically held that chairs, trees, rocks, people and many of the so-called ‘everyday’ objects we encounter can be regarded as individuals .}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katrina G. Claw
  • , title= Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual .}}
  • (lb) An element belonging to a population.
  • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=71, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= End of the peer show , passage=Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.}}
  • Intended for a single person as opposed to more than one person.
  • Synonyms

    * (relating to a single person or thing) (l), (l) * (intended for a single person or thing) (l), (l)

    Antonyms

    * (relating to a single person or thing) (l) * (intended for a single person or thing) (l), (l), (l)

    Statistics

    * ----

    circumstantial

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Pertaining to or dependent on circumstances, especially as opposed to essentials; incidental, not essential.
  • * Sharp
  • We must therefore distinguish between the essentials in religious worship and what is merely circumstantial .
  • Abounding with circumstances; detailing or exhibiting all the circumstances; minute; particular.
  • * 1806 , )
  • For although my information appears too direct and circumstantial to be fictitious, yet the magnitude of the enterprise, the desperation of the plan, and the stupendous consequences with which it seems pregnant, stagger my belief
  • * 2007 , John Burrow, A History of Histories , Penguin 2009, p. 326:
  • Second-hand but clearly from the best possible source - the King himself - [the story] is highly circumstantial , taking twenty-two pages of text.
  • Full of circumstance or pomp; ceremonial.
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • (chiefly, in the plural) Something incidental to the main subject, but of less importance.
  • the circumstantials of religion

    Antonyms

    * essential