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 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;
  • noun military a quota of troops.
  • adjective Possible or liable, but not certain to occur; incidental; casual.
  • adjective Dependent on something that is undetermined or unknown.
  • 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

[Middle English, from Latin contingēns, contingent-, present participle of contingere, to touch; see contact.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Medieval Latin contingens ("possible, contingent"), properly present participle of Latin contingere ("to touch, meet, attain to, happen"), from com- ("together") + tangere ("to touch").

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Examples

  • 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_.

    Christianity and Greek Philosophy or, the relation between spontaneous and reflective thought in Greece and the positive teaching of Christ and His Apostles 1852

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • Horowitz argues that the term "contingent" is outdated and should no longer be used to describe workers.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

  • 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

  • FINNEGAN: A lot of people now then are part of what you describe as the contingent workforce.

    CNN Transcript Nov 3, 2009 2009

  • The Boston contingent is looking for a nice dinner spot near the Brooklyn Lyceum.

    Tew's Day! kebechet 2009

  • We keep reading that the female hunting contingent is increasing, while the male hunting contingent is decreasing in our population.

    Ladies in distress! Rally up boys and girls! 2009

  • We keep reading that the female hunting contingent is increasing, while the male hunting contingent is decreasing in our population.

    Ladies in distress! Rally up boys and girls! 2009

Comments

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  • I especially like the meaning of contingent when used in the context of philosophy and logic.

    January 25, 2009

  • 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