Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Liable but not certain to occur; possible.
- adjective Dependent on other conditions or circumstances; conditional: synonym: dependent.
- adjective Happening by or subject to chance or accident; unpredictable: synonym: accidental.
- adjective Logic True only under certain conditions; not necessarily or universally true.
- noun A group or detachment, as of troops or police, assigned to aid a larger force.
- noun A representative group that is selected from or part of a larger group.
- noun An event or condition that is likely but not inevitable.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Not existing or occurring through necessity; due to chance or to a free agent; accidentally existing or true; hence, without a known or apparent cause or reason, or caused by something which would not in every case act; dependent upon the will of a human being, or other finite free agent.
- Dependent upon a foreseen possibility; provisionally liable to exist, happen, or take effect in the future; conditional: as, a contingent remainder after the payment of debts; a journey contingent upon the receipt of advices; a contingent promise.
- noun An event dependent either upon accident or upon the will of a finite free agent; an event not determinable by any rule.
- noun That which falls to one in a division or apportionment among a number; a quota; specifically, the share or proportion of troops to be furnished by one of several contracting powers; the share actually furnished: as, the Turkish contingent in the Crimean war.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Possible, or liable, but not certain, to occur; incidental; casual.
- adjective Dependent on that which is undetermined or unknown.
- adjective (Law) Dependent for effect on something that may or may not occur.
- noun An event which may or may not happen; that which is unforeseen, undetermined, or dependent on something future; a contingency.
- noun That which falls to one in a division or apportionment among a number; a suitable share; proportion; esp., a quota of troops.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
event which may or may not happen; that which isunforeseen ,undetermined , ordependent on something future; acontingency . - noun That which falls to one in a
division orapportionment among a number; a suitableshare ;proportion ; - noun military a
quota oftroops . - adjective
Possible orliable , but notcertain tooccur ;incidental ;casual . - adjective
Dependent on something that isundetermined orunknown . - adjective Dependent on something that may or may not occur.
- adjective Not
logically necessarily true or false.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a gathering of persons representative of some larger group
- adjective determined by conditions or circumstances that follow
- adjective possible but not certain to occur
- noun a temporary military unit
- adjective uncertain because of uncontrollable circumstances
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Thus the soul is, on one side, linked to the unchangeable and the eternal, being formed of that ineffable element which constitutes the _real_ or _immutable Being_, and on the other side, linked to the sensible and the contingent, being formed of that element which is purely _relative_ and _contingent_.
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And if there is such an idea as the idea of a contingent being ” if ˜contingent being™ is a meaningful phrase ”, then there would seem to be such an idea as the complement of that idea, the idea of a necessary being, the idea of a being of which it is false that it might not have existed.
Metaphysics van Inwagen, Peter 2007
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The term "contingent resources" is a broader description of potentially recoverable volumes than proved, probable and possible reserves, as defined by the SEC regulations.
unknown title 2011
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The term "contingent resources" is a broader description of potentially recoverable volumes than proved, probable and possible reserves, as defined by the SEC regulations.
unknown title 2011
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Horowitz argues that the term "contingent" is outdated and should no longer be used to describe workers.
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This contingent is ably represented, this time out, by Marta Salij of the Detroit Free Press and Tom Deveson of the Times.
The Abyss and the Critics superversive 2007
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FINNEGAN: A lot of people now then are part of what you describe as the contingent workforce.
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The Boston contingent is looking for a nice dinner spot near the Brooklyn Lyceum.
Tew's Day! kebechet 2009
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We keep reading that the female hunting contingent is increasing, while the male hunting contingent is decreasing in our population.
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We keep reading that the female hunting contingent is increasing, while the male hunting contingent is decreasing in our population.
nicknich3 commented on the word contingent
I especially like the meaning of contingent when used in the context of philosophy and logic.
January 25, 2009
mohitanand commented on the word contingent
noun: a gathering of persons representative of some larger group
A small contingent of those loyal to the king have gathered around the castle to defend it.
adjective: dependent on (usually used with upon)
Whether the former world champions can win again this year is contingent upon none of its star players getting injured
October 19, 2016