Circumstantial means based on details that point to a conclusion without proving it. Circumstantial evidence, purely circumstantial, a circumstantial case.
People treat circumstantial evidence as weak, and lawyers will tell you it is not: a fingerprint is circumstantial, and eyewitness testimony, which is direct, is far less reliable. A strong case is usually built of many circumstantial pieces at once.
1adjectivecircumstantialBased on details that point to a conclusion without proving it.
“The police had only circumstantial evidence, so they couldn't prove he did it.”
circumstantial is a quality of evidence.
From circumstance, from Latin circumstantia, standing around — circum, around, plus stare, to stand.
Latin
circumstantia
English, today
circumstantial
From circumstantia + -al. From Latin circumstantia + English -al, equivalent to circumstance + -ial.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA