Her name was Ruth, and she lived with her parents in a flat in Park West, and we'd met two months ago in unpromising circumstances.

Still, it's hope wrenched from the most unpromising circumstances, as Mudrooroo's dedication to "the men who did time in Fremantle Prison" reminds us.

Both women have married in unpromising circumstances, as love is a luxury neither can afford.

It was in these unpromising circumstances that the great cholera controversy, which had been smouldering for some time, at last burst into flame.

All that lusty wanting, that earnest, unsecret desire, keeps her characters animated even in the most unpromising circumstances.

The boy's natural intellect had somehow survived and grown in unpromising circumstances.

That is the most unpromising circumstance, the strongest presumption against him.

There was, in truth, little initiative that any British government could offer in the unpromising circumstances of 1977-8.

The sun was nearing the western horizon; rather than push forward under such unpromising circumstances, the Emperor ordered camp made so he could safely advance come morning.

Despite these rather unpromising circumstances, he was fairly certain they'd have gotten away.