N. circumstance, situation, phase, position, # posture, attitude, place, point, terms, regime, footing, standing, status, occasion, juncture, conjunctive, contingency, predicament, emergence, emergency, exigency, crisis, pinch, pass, push, occurrence, turning point, bearings, how the land lies, surroundings, context, environment 229a, location 184, contingency, dependence (uncertainty) 475, causation 153, attribution 155

Adj. circumstantial, given, conditional, provisional, critical, modal, contingent, incidental, adventitious, limitative

Adv. in the circumstances, under the circumstances, the circumstances, conditions, thus, in such wise, accordingly, that being the case, such being the case, in view of the circumstances, that being so, sith, since, seeing that, as matters stand, as things go, as times go, conditionally, provided, if, in case, if so, if so be, if it be so, depending on circumstances, in certain circumstances, under certain conditions, if it so happen, if it so turn out, in the event of, in such a contingency, in such a case, in such an event, provisionally, unless, without, according to circumstances, according to the occasion, as it may happen, as it may turn out, as it may be, as the case may be, as the wind blows, pro re nata

Phr. "yet are my sins not those of circumstance", 1, absolute relation

N. the present, the present time, the present day, the present moment, the present juncture, the present occasion, the times, the existing time, the time being, today, these days, nowadays, our times, modern times, the twentieth century, nonce, crisis, epoch, day, hour, age, time of life

Adj. present, actual, instant, current, existing, extant, that is, present-day, up-to-date, up-to-the-moment

Adv. at this time, at this moment, at the present time, now, at present, at hand, at this time of day, today, nowadays, already, even now, but now, just now, on the present occasion, for the time being, for the nonce, pro hac vice, on the nail, on the spot, on the spur of the moment, until now, to this day, to the present day

Phr. "the present hour alone is man's"

N. {ant. 135} timeliness, occasion, opportunity, opening, room, event (eventuality) 151, suitable season, proper season, suitable time, proper time, high time, opportuneness, tempestivity, crisis, turn, juncture, conjuncture, crisis, turning point, given time, nick of time, golden opportunity, well timed opportunity, fine opportunity, favorable opportunity, opening, clear stage, fair field, mollia tempora, fata morgana, spare time

V. seize an opportunity, use an opportunity, give an opportunity, use an occasion, improve the occasion, suit the occasion, seize the occasion, strike while the iron is hot, battre le fer sur l'enclume, make hay while the sun shines, seize the present hour, take time by the forelock, prendre la balle au bond

Adj. opportune, timely, well-timed, timeful, seasonable, providential, lucky, fortunate, happy, favorable, propitious, auspicious, critical, suitable, obiter dicta

Adv. opportunely, in proper course, in due course, in proper season, in due season, in proper time, in due time, for the nonce, in the nick of time, in the fullness of time, all in good time, just in time, at the eleventh hour, now or never, by the way, by the by, en passant, a propos, pro re nata, pro hac vice, par parenthese, parenthetically, by way of parenthesis, incidentally, while speaking of, while on the subject, extempore, on the spur of the moment, on the spur of the occasion, on the spot

Phr. carpe diem, [Horace], occasionem cognosce, one's hour is come, the time is up, that reminds me, now that you mention it, come to think of it, bien perdu bien connu, e sempre l'ora, ex quovis ligno non fit mercurius, nosce tempus, nunc aut nunquam

N. eventuality, event, occurrence, incident, affair, matter, thing, episode, happening, proceeding, contingency, juncture, experience, fact, matter of fact, naked fact, bare facts, just the facts, phenomenon, advent, business, concern, transaction, dealing, proceeding, circumstance, particular, casualty, accident, adventure, passage, crisis, pass, emergency, contingency, consequence, opportunity (occasion) 143, the world, life, things, doings, affairs in general, things in general, affairs in general, the times, state of affairs, order of the day, course of things, tide of things, stream of things, current of things, run of things, march of things, course of events, ups and downs of life, vicissitudes of life, chapter of accidents, situation

V. happen, occur, take place, take effect, come, become of, come off, comeabout, come round, come into existence, come forth, come to pass, come on, pass, present itself, fall, fall out, turn out, run, be on foot, fall in, befall, betide, bechance, prove, eventuate, draw on, turn up, crop up, spring up, pop up, arise, show up, show its face, appear, come forth, cast up, supervene, survene, issue, arrive, ensue, arise, start, hold, take its course, pass off, meet with, experience, enjoy, encounter, undergo, suffer, pass through, go through, be subjected to, be exposed to, fall to the lot of, be one's chance, be one's fortune, be one's lot, find, endure

Adj. happening, going on, doing, current, in the wind, in the air, afloat, on foot, afoot, on the tapis, at issue, in question, incidental, eventful, stirring, bustling, full of incident, memorable, momentous, signal

Adv. eventually, in the event of, in case, just in case, in the course of things, as things, times go, as the world goes, wags, as the tree falls, cat jumps, as it may turn out, happen

Phr. that's the way the ball bounces, that's the way the cookie crumbles, you never know what may turn up, you never know what the future will bring, the plot thickens, "breasts the blows of circumstance", "so runs round of life from hour to hour" "sprinkled along the waste of years", future events

N. difficulty, hardness, impracticability, tough work, hard work, uphill work, hard task, herculean task, augean task, task of sisyphus, sisyphean labor, tough job, teaser, rasper, dead lift, dilemma, embarrassment, deadlock, perplexity, intricacy, entanglement, complexity, cross fire, awkwardness, delicacy, ticklish card to play, knot, gordian knot, dignus vindice nodus, net, meshes, maze, coil, crooked path, involvement, nice point, delicate point, subtle point, knotty point, vexed question, vexata quaestio, poser, puzzle, paradox, hard nut to crack, nut to crack, bone to pick, crux, pons asinorum, where the shoe pinches, nonplus, quandary, strait, pass, pinch, pretty pass, stress, brunt, critical situation, crisis, trial, rub, emergency, exigency, scramble, scrape, hobble, slough, quagmire, hot water, hornet's nest, sea of troubles, peck of troubles, pretty kettle of fish, pickle, stew, imbroglio, mess, ado, false position, set fast, stand, standstill, deadlock, dead set, fix, horns of a dilemma, cul de sac, hitch, stumbling block, crab, curmudgeon

V. be difficult, run one hard, go against the grain, try one's patience, put one out, put to one's shifts, put to one's wit's end, go hard with one, try one, pose, perplex, bother, nonplus, gravel, bring to a deadlock, be impossible, be in the way of, meet with difficulties, labor under difficulties, get into difficulties, plunge into difficulties, struggle with difficulties, contend with difficulties, grapple with difficulties, labor under a disadvantage, be in difficulty, fish in troubled waters, buffet the waves, swim against the stream, scud under bare poles, have much ado with, have a hard time of it, come to the push, come to the pinch, bear the brunt, grope in the dark, lose one's way, weave a tangled web, walk among eggs, get into a scrape, bring a hornet's nest about one's ears, be put to one's shifts, flounder, boggle, struggle, not know which way to turn, perdre son latin, stick at, stick in the mud, stick fast, come to a stand, come to a standstill, come to a deadlock, hold the wolf by the ears, hold the tiger by the tail, render difficult, enmesh, encumber, embarrass, ravel, entangle, put a spoke in the wheel, lead a pretty dance

Adj. difficult, not easy, hard, tough, troublesome, toilsome, irksome, operose, laborious, onerous, arduous, herculean, formidable, sooner said than done, more easily said than done, easier said than done, difficult to deal with, hard to deal with, ill-conditioned, crabbed, crabby, not to be handled with kid gloves, not made with rose water, awkward, unwieldy, unmanageable, intractable, stubborn, perverse, refractory, plaguy, trying, thorny, rugged, knotted, knotty, invious|, pathless, trackless, labyrinthine, intricate, complicated, impracticable, not feasible, desperate, embarrassing, perplexing, delicate, ticklish, critical, beset with difficulties, full of difficulties, surrounded by difficulties, entangled by difficulties, encompassed with difficulties, under a difficulty, in a box, in difficulty, in hot water, in the suds, in a cleft stick, in a fix, in the wrong box, in a scrape, in deep water, in a fine pickle, in extremis, between two stools, between scylla and charybdis, surrounded by shoals, surrounded by breakers, surrounded by quicksands, at cross purposes, not out of the wood, reduced to straits, hard pressed, sorely pressed, run hard, pinched, put to it, straitened, hard up, hard put to it, hard set, put to one's shifts, puzzled, at a loss, &c (uncertain) 475, at the end of one's tether, at the end of one's rope, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, at a standstill, graveled, nonplused, nonplussed, stranded, aground, stuck fast, set fast, up a tree, at bay, aux abois, driven into a corner, driven from pillar to post, driven to extremity, driven to one's wit's end, driven to the wall, au bout de son latin, out of one's depth, thrown out, accomplished with difficulty, hard-fought, hard-earned

Adv. with difficulty, with much ado, barely, hardly, uphill, against the stream, against the grain, d rebours, invita minerva, in the teeth of, at a pinch, upon a pinch, at long odds, against long odds

Phr. "ay there's the rub", hic labor hoc opus, things are come to a pretty pass, ab inconvenienti, ad astra per aspera, acun chemin de fleurs ne conduit a la gloire