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  1. incumbent love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Imposed as an obligation or duty; obligatory: felt it was incumbent on us all to help.
  2. adj. Lying, leaning, or resting on something else: incumbent rock strata.
  3. adj. Currently holding a specified office: the incumbent mayor.
  4. n. A person who holds an office or ecclesiastical benefice: The incumbent was reelected to another term.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Lying or resting on something.
  2. Specifically.
  3. 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.
  4. Lying or resting as a duty or obligation; imposed, and pressing to performance.
  5. 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.
  6. In geology, resting upon: said of one series of strata which is supported by a subjacent one.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Imposed on someone as an obligation, especially due to one's office.
  2. adj. geology Resting on something else.
  3. adj. Being the current holder of an office or a title.
  4. n. The current holder of an office, such as ecclesiastical benefice or an elected office.
  5. 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

  1. adj. Lying; resting; reclining; recumbent; superimposed; superincumbent.
  2. adj. Lying, resting, or imposed, as a duty or obligation; obligatory; always with on or upon.
  3. 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.
  4. adj. (Zoöl.) Bent downwards so that the ends touch, or rest on, something else.
  5. n. A person who is in present possession of a benefice or of any office.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. the official who holds an office
  2. adj. currently holding an office
  3. adj. lying or leaning on something else
  4. adj. necessary (for someone) as a duty or responsibility; morally binding

Etymologies

  1. 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)
  2. 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

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synonyms (7)

Words with the same meaning

  1. lying
  1. resting
  1. reclining
  1. recumbent
  1. superimposed
  1. superincumbent
  1. obligatory

equivalents (3)

Other words for ‘incumbent’

  1. current
  1. superjacent
  1. necessary

same context (10)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. indebted
  2. liable
  1. applicable
  2. advantageous
  1. rector
  2. privileged
  1. vicar
  2. distasteful
  1. objectionable
  2. democratic

reverse dictionary (55)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. incumbently
  2. insistent
  3. incumbency
  4. dilapidation
  5. creep
  6. unbehoving
  7. notorhizal
  8. obediential
  9. sedes impedita
  10. avoidance
  11. incumbentess
  1. lepidineæ
  2. Aquino
  3. lukewarm
  4. access broker
  5. crush
  6. fill
  7. vacant
  8. Reagan
  9. axiomatic
  10. pork
  11. uphill
  1. incumbent
  2. sitting
  3. parson
  4. parsonage
  5. procuration
  6. prop
  7. Regius professor
  8. residence
  9. sequestration
  10. spoliation
  11. vicar
  1. void
  2. voidance
  3. cession
  4. chair
  5. commendam
  6. curate
  7. divaricate
  8. lecturer
  9. lie
  10. living
  11. plenarty
  1. plurality
  2. pontificate
  3. portioner
  4. sit
  5. stand
  6. titular
  7. titulary
  8. trinoda necessitas
  9. trust
  10. usurpation
  11. vandeæ

tags (6)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. words from latin
  1. MW_woty_2004
  1. politics
  1. government
  1. elections
  1. lying or resting as a duty/obligation

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tagging (1)

Words tagged ‘incumbent’

  1. encumbent

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  • 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

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‘incumbent’ has been looked up 4466 times, loved by 6 people, added to 68 lists, commented on 2 times, and has a Scrabble score of 15.