Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or involving contribution.
  • adjective Helping to bring about a result.
  • adjective Subject to an impost or levy.
  • noun One that contributes.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Contributing to the same stock or purpose; promoting the same end; bringing assistance to some joint enterprise, or increase to some common stock.
  • Paying contribution; tributary; subject.
  • noun One who or that which contributes.
  • noun In recent Eng. law, one who, by reason of being or having been a shareholder in a jointstock company, is bound, on the winding up of the company, to contribute toward the payment of its debts.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Contributing to the same stock or purpose; promoting the same end; bringing assistance to some joint design, or increase to some common stock; contributive.
  • adjective (Law) negligence by an injured party, which combines with the negligence of the injurer in producing the injury, and which bars recovery when it is the proximate cause of the injury.
  • noun One who contributes, or is liable to be called upon to contribute, as toward the discharge of a common indebtedness.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of, pertaining to, or involving a contribution
  • adjective Tending to contribute to a result

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective tending to bring about; being partly responsible for

Etymologies

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Examples

  • CASARES: However, Alex Sanchez, there is something in civil law called contributory negligence.

    CNN Transcript Dec 28, 2007 2007

  • In addition, I think what is at stake here is the idea of contributory infringement.

    Marvel & NCSoft Update 2005

  • But in the Sony case, the Supreme Court quite clearly saw that, in a world where technological developments made copying easier, the idea of contributory infringement in copyright could be used to suppress or control entire technologies that seemed, in the logic of 20/20 downside vision, to pose a threat to the copyright holder.

    The Public Domain Enclosing the Commons of the Mind James Boyle

  • Staff shortages, errors by senior management and antique technology were also identified as contributory factors behind one of the most embarrassing episodes for the ONS in recent memory.

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph Philip Aldrick 2011

  • In fact, their role in his injury could almost be characterized as contributory negligence.

    AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed 2010

  • In fact, their role in his injury could almost be characterized as contributory negligence.

    AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed 2010

  • So, applying the same rigour and logic with which you scrutinise IPCC reports, why would you not be at least as sceptical of an organisation (NIPCC) that neglects to name contributory authors, especially given that the IPCC does?

    Deltoid 2009

  • Ghana has been identified as the contributory factor to the growing number of obstetric fistula cases among

    WN.com - Articles related to Mother of Hingham teen insists her son was a victim of swine flu 2009

  • The parliament pays £2 into the fund for every £1 contributed by each member and, with the supposedly "contributory" element also being paid out of public funds, MEPs are able to build up a very nice little nest-egg at our expense.

    Vile bodies Richard 2005

  • They dropped the so-called "contributory" participation aim and substituted what became known as the "option route" to participation.

    North Sea Oil—The Economic Implications 1977

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