under the circumstances

Fig. in a particular situation; because of the circumstances. I'm sorry to hear that you're ill. Under the circumstances, you may take the day off. We won't expect you to come to work for a few days, under the circumstances.

because of the particular situation Going to see the scene of the explosion was, under the circumstances, a really stupid thing to do. The storm was very dangerous, so under the circumstances I think we were lucky to have had only one tree blown down.

Also, in the circumstances. Given these conditions, such being the case, as in Under the circumstances we can't leave Mary out. This idiom uses circumstance in the sense of "a particular situation," a usage dating from the late 1300s. It may also be modified in various ways, such as under any circumstances meaning "no matter what the situation," as in We'll phone her under any circumstances; under no circumstances, meaning "in no case, never," as in Under no circumstances may you smoke; under any other circumstances, meaning "in a different situation," as in I can't work under any other circumstances; and under the same circumstances, meaning "given the same situation," as in Under the same circumstances anyone would have done the same.