Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Imposed as an obligation or duty; obligatory: felt it was incumbent on us all to help.
- adj. Lying, leaning, or resting on something else: incumbent rock strata.
- adj. Currently holding a specified office: the incumbent mayor.
- n. A person who holds an office or ecclesiastical benefice: The incumbent was reelected to another term.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Lying or resting on something.
- Specifically.
- Lying, leaning, or resting lengthwise, in whole or in part, upon a surface to which there is only one point of actual attachment or none. In botany, said of cotyledons when the back of one is applied to the radicle, as in some of the Cruciferæ; said of an anther when it is fixed by the middle or any other part of the back, and lies along the inner side of the filament.
- Lying or resting as a duty or obligation; imposed, and pressing to performance.
- n. One who discharges stated functions; the holder of an office of any kind; especially, one who discharges ecclesiastical functions; one who holds a benefice.
- In geology, resting upon: said of one series of strata which is supported by a subjacent one.
Wiktionary
- adj. Imposed on someone as an obligation, especially due to one's office.
- adj. geology Resting on something else.
- adj. Being the current holder of an office or a title.
- n. The current holder of an office, such as ecclesiastical benefice or an elected office.
- n. business A holder of a position as supplier to a market or market segment that allows the holder to earn above-normal profits.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Lying; resting; reclining; recumbent; superimposed; superincumbent.
- adj. Lying, resting, or imposed, as a duty or obligation; obligatory; always with
on orupon . - adj. (Bot.) Leaning or resting; -- said of anthers when lying on the inner side of the filament, or of cotyledons when the radicle lies against the back of one of them.
- adj. (Zoöl.) Bent downwards so that the ends touch, or rest on, something else.
- n. A person who is in present possession of a benefice or of any office.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the official who holds an office
- adj. currently holding an office
- adj. lying or leaning on something else
- adj. necessary (for someone) as a duty or responsibility; morally binding
Etymologies
- From Middle English, from stem incumbent-, of Medieval Latin incumbēns ("holder of a church position"), from Latin present participle of incumbō ("I lie down upon"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, holder of an office, from Medieval Latin incumbēns, incumbent-, from Latin, present participle of incumbere, to lean upon, apply oneself to : in-, on; see in-2 + -cumbere, to recline. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Khosla went after what he called "incumbent capitalism," in which government policy and incentives are designed not to encourage competition and innovation, but to protect entrenched incumbent interests, with coal, oil, nuclear, and utility monopolies being the most spectacular beneficiaries of this bias against innovation.”
The Huffington Post: Carl Pope: The End of Incumbent Capitalism?
“They 're trying to, and sort of -- I was in the Eighth District, where Patrick Murphy, the incumbent, two-term incumbent, is facing off against Mike Fitzpatrick, a former congressman.”
“If the incumbent is a Republican, then my anti-incumbent fever is very strong.”
“Ones encouragement of the electorate to be cross with the incumbent is the primary component and second is a posture designed to deflect existing disquiet about yourselves.”
“Meanwhile, the other liberal group trying to defeat the incumbent is the Save the 48th PAC.”
Sound Politics: Liberal PACs not yet investing much in Esser race
“That is part of what I call the incumbent protection program," he said.”
“Losing a long term Democrat incumbent is a huge game changer.”
Marion Berry (D, AR-01) cuts and runs. - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState
“The 76-year-old incumbent is facing off against seven challengers, all of whom are more conservative.”
“Bright's natural advantage as an incumbent is almost entirely canceled out, and his race with Martha Roby is a competitive one.”
The Huffington Post: Matthew Givens: Alabama 2nd Congressional District Recap
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘incumbent’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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announcement of c..., campaign headquar..., campaign season, campaign staff, campaign strategy, campaign tactic, campaign team, campaign trail, campaigning, candidate, candidate registr..., caucus and 930 more...
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(Persons' names, foreign and grammatical words have been eliminated, MWEs have been split up into individual words. Capitalization has been retained if r...conferral, stateless, person, voting, right, subsidiarity, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia and 2614 more...
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Mike Doughty/Soul Coughing
Words and phrases from his lyrics.
incumbent, jawgrind, boop shuh-nai, mopstyle, boombox moocher, Buddha-plump van, slingbacked, half-moon, maquereau, aphasia, barter yardie, boom-bap and 30 more...
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ocracy
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pithy, wag, penchant, revamp, put on the stand, crony, bonanza, tertiary education, incumbent, unduly = чрезмерно, cash hoard = нали..., to be reluctant =... and 37 more...
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SAT Master Vocab List
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rumination, contrition, extemporize, effusion, exult, vexed, sumptuous, punitive, brethren, harridan, macabre, acrid and 123 more...
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writing first chapter
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
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Vocabulary
Words I come across while reading.
talus, echelon, onanistic, cabochon, avocation, charnel, moue, portentous, prolixity, astringent, hoary, patina and 165 more...
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The New Yorker
prejudice, ignominious, quintessence, disparity, vanguard, repudiated, eclectic, dredge, taxonomy, pugnacious, surreptitiously, pudgy and 113 more...
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wordlist_67
felicitous, prima donna, secular, relent, contentious, droves, drone, hedonism, paragon, drudgery, solipsism, inexorable and 21 more...
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List Erine
cool mint antiseptic
shalom, cattywampus, bourgeoisie, aerophile, traverse, grotto, epicurean, ex cathedra, nautilus, epitaph, lathe, continuum and 753 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for incumbent.

jwjarvis salaries of job incumbents in his or her company Feb 18, 2011
jwjarvis It gave patients an opportunity once a year to compare notes on the medical records of both the challenger and incumbent. Sep 14, 2010