Adjacent Words

Contingency definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CONTINGENCE, CONTINGENCY, n. [L., to fall or happen to; to touch. See Touch.]
1. The quality of being contingent or casual; a happening; or the possibility of coming to pass.
We are not to build certain rules on the contingency of human actions.
2. Casualty; accident; fortuitous event. The success of the attempt will depend on contingencies. [See Accident and Casualty.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a possible event or occurrence or result [syn: eventuality, contingency, contingence]
2: the state of being contingent on something

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -cies) Date: 1561 1. the quality or state of being contingent 2. a contingent event or condition: as a. an event (as an emergency) that may but is not certain to occur <trying to provide for every contingency> b. something liable to happen as an adjunct to or result of something else Synonyms: see juncture

U.S. Military Dictionary

A situation requiring military operations in response to natural disasters, terrorists, subversives, or as otherwise directed by appropriate authority to protect US interests. See also contingency contracting. (JP 5-0)

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) 1 a future event or circumstance regarded as likely to occur, or as influencing present action. 2 something dependent on another uncertain event or occurrence. 3 uncertainty of occurrence. 4 a one thing incident to another. b an incidental expense etc. Phrases and idioms: contingency fund a fund to cover incidental or unforeseen expenses. Etymology: earlier contingence f. LL contingentia (as CONTINGENT)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Contingency Con*tin"gen*cy, n.; pl. Contingencies. [Cf. F. contingence.] 1. Union or connection; the state of touching or contact. ``Point of contingency.'' --J. Gregory. 2. The quality or state of being contingent or casual; the possibility of coming to pass. Aristotle says we are not to build certain rules on the contingency of human actions. --South. 3. An event which may or may not occur; that which is possible or probable; a fortuitous event; a chance. The remarkable position of the queen rendering her death a most important contingency. --Hallam. 4. An adjunct or accessory. --Wordsworth. 5. (Law) A certain possible event that may or may not happen, by which, when happening, some particular title may be affected. Syn: Casualty; accident; chance.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(contingencies) 1. A contingency is something that might happen in the future. (FORMAL) I need to examine all possible contingencies. = possibility, eventuality N-VAR 2. A contingency plan or measure is one that is intended to be used if a possible situation actually occurs. (FORMAL) We have contingency plans. ADJ: ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Accidentalness, fortuity, uncertainty. 2. Casualty, accident, incident, occurrence, event.

Moby Thesaurus

accessory, accident, accidental, addendum, addition, adjunct, adventure, appendage, appurtenance, aptitude, aptness, auxiliary, bare possibility, blind bargain, borderline case, break, casualty, chance, chance hit, circumstance, collateral, coming to be, conceivability, conceivableness, condition, conjuncture, contingent, correlation, crisis, crossroads, dependence, double contingency, emergency, even chance, event, eventuality, eventuation, exigency, extra, fluke, fortuity, freak accident, gamble, good chance, good possibility, guess, hap, happening, happenstance, hazard, hope, incidence, incident, incidental, inessential, interrelation, juncture, liability, liableness, likelihood, likeliness, long odds, long shot, lucky shot, materialization, mere chance, nonessential, not-self, obligation, occasion, occurrence, off chance, open question, opportunity, other, outside chance, outside hope, pass, piece of guesswork, pinch, possibility, possibleness, potential, potentiality, probability, proneness, prospect, question, realization, relativity, remote possibility, secondary, sight-unseen transaction, small hope, strait, subsidiary, superaddition, supplement, the attainable, the feasible, the possible, thinkability, thinkableness, toss-up, touch and go, turning point, undecided issue, unessential, virtuality, wager, weakness, what is possible, what may be, what might be, zero hour