JISUPOSTEnglish
ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Contingent

/kənˈtɪn.d͡ʒənt/ · noun

Meaning

An event which may or may not happen; that which is unforeseen, undetermined, or dependent on something in the future..

Definitions by Sense

  1. An event which may or may not happen; that which is unforeseen, undetermined, or dependent on something in the future.
  2. That which falls to one in a division or apportionment among a number; a suitable share.
  3. (military) A quota of troops.
  4. Possible or liable, but not certain, to occur.
  5. (with upon or on) Dependent on something that is undetermined or unknown, that may or may not occur.
  6. Not logically necessarily true or false.
  7. Temporary.

Example Sentences

Arrests and prosecutions intensified after Isis captured Mosul in June, but the groundwork had been laid by an earlier amendment to Jordan’s anti-terrorism law. It is estimated that 2,000 Jordanians have fought and 250 of them have died in Syria – making them the third largest Arab contingent in Isis after Saudi Arabians and Tunisians.
The success of his undertaking is contingent upon events which he cannot control.
a contingent estate
The imposition of the death penalty should not be contingent on a particular jury's unguided understanding of a legal term of art.
This rather narrow theological dispute eventually helped eradicate from Western philosophy the idea of universals—the notion that concepts in the mind correspond to eternal truths, like the Platonic forms—and succeeded in making the world, as Blumenberg puts it, “radically contingent.”
Both Catalan parties have said their support for getting the PSOE back into office will be contingent on an amnesty for the hundreds of people who participated in the failed push to secede from Spain in October 2017.
contingent labor
contingent worker

Synonyms for contingent

contingencychancecontingenteventualitypossibilitypotentialityproportionincidentalcasualconditionalconditionedqualifieduncertainpossibledetailcontingent ondependent ondepending ondependant on

Antonyms for contingent

noncontingentcertaininevitablenecessaryimpossible

Related Words

possibleconditionaldetailuncertaincontingent ondependant ondependent ondepending oncontingencyprospectivepossibilityimplicitindirecteventualputativeprovidentdependentpotentialoccasionalsecondary

Word Forms

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

Practice and Learn More

Add this word and synonyms to Word SearchSynonyms and antonymsBetter words by context

Frequently Asked Questions

What does contingent mean?

Contingent means An event which may or may not happen; that which is unforeseen, undetermined, or dependent on something in the future..

What is a synonym for contingent?

Common synonyms include contingency, chance, contingent, eventuality.

What is the opposite of contingent?

Possible antonyms include noncontingent, certain, inevitable, necessary.

How do you use contingent in a sentence?

Arrests and prosecutions intensified after Isis captured Mosul in June, but the groundwork had been laid by an earlier amendment to Jordan’s anti-terrorism law. It is estimated that 2,000 Jordanians have fought and 250 of them have died in Syria – making them the third largest Arab contingent in Isis after Saudi Arabians and Tunisians.

Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.