different between circumstances vs appearance

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s?k?mstæns?z/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s??k?mst(?)ns?z/, /?s??k?mst??ns?z/

Noun

circumstances

1. plural of circumstance

English

Alternative forms

• appearaunce (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French apparence, from Latin apparentia, from appareo.Displaced native Middle English wlite (“appearance”).

Morphologically appear +? -ance.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??p????ns/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??p???ns/
• Hyphenation: ap?pear?ance

Noun

appearance (countable and uncountable, plural appearances)

1. The act of appearing or coming into sight; the act of becoming visible to the eye.

2. A thing seen; a phenomenon; an apparition.

3. The way something looks; personal presence

   Synonyms: aspect, mien
4. Apparent likeness; the way which something or someone appears to others.
   • 1769, The King James Bible, Numbers ix. 15

     And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning.

   • 1769, The King James Bible John vii. 24

     Judge not according to the appearance.

5. (philosophy, theology) That which is not substance, essence, hypostasis; the outward reality as opposed to the underlying reality

6. The act of appearing in a particular place, or in society, a company, or any proceedings; a coming before the public in a particular character.
   • 1671, John Milton, Paradise Regained

     Will he now retire, After appearance, and again prolong Our expectation?

7. (law) An instance of someone coming into a court of law to be part of a trial, either in person or represented by an attorney or such like; a court appearance
8. (medicine) Chiefly used by nurses: the act of defecation by a patient.

Synonyms

• (act of coming into sight): arrival, manifestation,
• (a thing seen): spectacle, apparition, phenomenon, presence
• (aspect of a person): aspect, air, figure, look, manner, mien
• (outward show): semblance, show, pretense, façade or facade
• (act of appearing in public): debut

Antonyms

• non-appearance, nonappearance

Derived terms

Related terms

• appear
• apparent

Translations

References

• appearance in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.