contingentadj.n.
/kənˈtɪndʒənt/ A. adj.
I. From literal sense of Latin contingere.† 1.
a. Touching each other, in contact; tangential. contingent line = tangent line; in Dialling a line crossing the substyle or substylar line at right angles.
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the world > relative properties > number > geometry > line > [adjective] > touching another
contingent?a1560
tangent1594
concurrenta1721
tangential1854
?a1560 L. Digges Geom. Pract.: Pantometria (1571) i. xvii. sig. E iij v But euery leuel right line (considering it is a contingent or touch line) is caryed aboue the circumference.
1570 H. Billingsley in tr. Euclid Elements Geom. iii. Introd. f. 80v It teacheth..which are circles contingent, and which are cutting the one the other.
1593 T. Fale Horologiographia Advt. to Rdr. sig. A4v The Contingent or touch line..in all Dials is drawne squire-wise to the Substile.
1691 W. Petty Treat. Naval Philos. in T. Hale Acct. New Inventions 123 Portions of Circles unto which the remaining strait part may be a contingent line.
1703 Moxon's Mech. Dyalling (ed. 4) in Moxon's Mech. Exercises (new ed.) 319 On the Substilar Line chuse a point as at C, and thro' that point draw a Line as long as you can perpendicular..(which is called the Contingent Line).
1703 R. Neve City & Countrey Purchaser 49 They strew Sea coal..betwixt all the Rows of Bricks; for they are not laid Contingent in their Vertical Rows.
1703 R. Neve City & Countrey Purchaser 162 The corner of the second Tile is contingent with the 1st.
b. figurative. ? Having contact or connection. Obsolete.
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1721 T. D'Urfey New Opera's 226 I..daily gave my self a Name Contingent with my Father's Fame.
II. From Latin contingere in sense ‘to happen’.† 3. Happening. Obsolete.† 5. Not determined by necessity in regard to action or existence; free. Obsolete.
2.
a. Liable to happen or not; of uncertain occurrence or incidence.
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the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > unreliability > [adjective] > unpredictable
contingentc1400
casualc1460
whimsical1654
precarious1687
ambiguous1759
incalculable1796
uncalculable1848
chancy1860
impredicable1864
fluky1880
aleatoric1921
contingency1931
iffy1937
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > possibility > [adjective] > of possible occurrence
contingentc1400
conceivablec1443
possible1582
conceptible1641
inventible1641
entertainable1658
earthly1679
possible1780
contingency1931
c1400 Test. Love ii. ix. (1561) 303 I wote it is contingent, it maye fal an other.
1475 Bk. Noblesse (1860) 50 It were but as contingent and of no necessite, that is to sey, as likely to be not as to be.
1628 T. Spencer Art of Logick 218 Vnto man, all future things are contingent.
a1677 J. Taylor Contempl. State Man (1684) i. vii. 76 If Death were only contingent, and not certain, yet because it might happen, it ought to make us very careful and solicitous.
1702 R. L'Estrange tr. Josephus Jewish Antiq. viii. ii, in Wks. 220 Deer, Birds, Fishes, and other contingent Curiosities of the Chace.
1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 121 So much actual crime against so much contingent advantage. View more context for this quotation
1860 R. W. Emerson Wealth in Conduct of Life (London ed.) 95 All salaries are reckoned on contingent, as well as on actual services.
1861 ‘G. Eliot’ Silas Marner iii. 50 The results of confession were not contingent, they were certain; whereas betrayal was not certain.
b. Incidental (to).
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the world > relative properties > relationship > accompaniment > [adjective] > incidental
accidentc1450
contingent1747
1747 Gentleman's Mag. Oct. 464/2 Contingent expences with which the generals, for fifty years past, have filled the books of your office.
1833 J. C. Hare in Philol. Museum 2 122 The rights and obligations contingent to the colonus were of three kinds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > occurrence > [adjective] > occurring or happening
undergrowinga1440
occurrentc1484
happening1530
contingent1532
occursive1592
occurring1627
coming1697
1532 T. More Confut. Barnes in Wks. (1557) 786/2 The final effect of thinges here contingent or happening.
4. Happening or coming by chance; not fixed by necessity or fate; accidental, fortuitous.
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the world > existence and causation > causation > chance or causelessness > [adjective]
byc1050
casualc1374
fortuitc1374
fortunelc1374
fortunousc1374
causelessc1386
adventurousc1405
accidental1502
fortunable1509
happya1522
chanceable1549
occasional1569
accidentary1581
emergent1593
streave1598
contingent1604
happening1621
incidental1644
lucky1648
sporadical1654
temerarious1660
spontaneous1664
incidentarya1670
chance1676
antrin?1725
fortuitous1806
sporadic1821
windfall1845
chanced1853
blind1873
happenchance1905
happenstance1905
1604 R. Cawdrey Table Alphabet. Contingent, happening by chaunce.
1638 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy (ed. 5) ii. ii. iii. 258 Columbus did not find out America by chance, but God directed him..it was contingent to him, but necessary to God.
a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) i. iii. 78 The production of mixt Bodies either by spontaneous or contingent coalition of various particles of Matter.
1754 J. Edwards Careful Enq. Freedom of Will i. iii. 20 Any Thing is said to be contingent, or to come to pass by Chance or Accident, in the original Meaning of such Words, when its Connection with its Causes or Antecedents, according to the establish'd Course of Things, is not discerned.
1799 R. Kirwan Geol. Ess. 100 By various local and contingent events.
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the mind > will > free will > [adjective] > proceeding from free will
selflyOE
self-willOE
willesOE
needlessc1225
wilninga1250
wilfulc1374
voluntaryc1449
spontany1532
voluntarious1532
spontaneal1602
voluntaire1615
self-willing1625
ultroneous1637
unimposed1642
elective1643
spontaneous1656
contingent1660
unmechanic1709
volitient1844
unmechanical1865
1660 R. Coke Elements Power & Subjection 134 in Justice Vindicated God..by a..foresight or knowledg does often determin necessary effects from contingent causes.
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. i. 3 They suppose that Necessity is inwardly essential to all Agents whatsoever, and that Contingent Liberty is πρᾶγμα ἀνυπόστατον, a Thing Impossible or Contradictious.
1796 Bp. R. Watson Apol. for Bible x. 368 If human actions are not Contingent, what think you of the morality of actions?
6. Subject to or at the mercy of accidents; liable to chance and change.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > change > changeableness > [adjective]
slidinga900
wankleeOE
windyc1000
unsteadfastc1200
fleeting?c1225
loose?c1225
brotelc1315
unstablec1340
varyingc1340
variantc1374
motleyc1380
ungroundedc1380
muablea1393
passiblea1393
remuablea1393
changeablea1398
movablea1398
variablec1397
slidderya1400
ticklec1400
variantc1412
flitting1413
mutable?a1425
movingc1425
flaskisable1430
flickering1430
transmutablec1430
vertible1447
brittlea1450
ficklea1450
permutablec1450
unfirmc1450
uncertain1477
turnable1483
unsteadfast1483
vagrantc1522
inconstant1526
alterable?1531
stirringc1540
slippery1548
various1552
slid?1553
mutala1561
rolling1561
weathery1563
unconstant1568
interchangeable1574
fluctuant1575
stayless1575
transitive1575
voluble1575
changeling1577
queasy1579
desultory1581
huff-puff1582
unstaid1586
vagrant1586
changeful1590
floating1594
Protean1594
unstayed1594
swimming1596
anchorless1597
mobilec1600
ticklish1601
catching1603
labile1603
unrooted1604
quicksilvered1605
versatile1605
insubstantial1607
uncertain1609
brandling1611
rootless1611
squeasy1611
wind-changinga1616
insolid1618
ambulatory1625
versatilous1629
plastic1633
desultorious1637
unbottomed1641
fluid1642
fluent1648
yea-and-nay1648
versipellous1650
flexile1651
uncentred1652
variating1653
chequered1656
slideable1662
transchangeative1662
weathercock-like1663
flicketing1674
fluxa1677
lapsable1678
wanton1681
veering1684
upon the weathercock1702
contingent1703
unsettled?1726
fermentable1731
afloat1757
brickle1768
wavy1795
vagarious1798
unsettled1803
fitful1810
metamorphosical1811
undulating1815
tittupya1817
titubant1817
mutative1818
papier mâché1818
teetotum1819
vacillating1822
capricious1823
sensitive1828
quicksilvery1829
unengrafted1829
fluxionala1834
proteiform1833
liquid1835
tottlish1835
kaleidoscopic1846
versative1846
kaleidoscopical1858
tottery1861
choppy1865
variative1874
variational1879
wimbly-wambly1881
fluctuable1882
shifty1882
giveable1884
shifty1884
tippy1886
mutatory1890
upsettable1890
rocky1897
undulatory1897
streaky1898
tottly1905
tipply1906
up and down1907
inertialess1927
sometimey1946
rise-and-fall1950
switchable1961
the world > existence and causation > causation > chance or causelessness > [adjective] > random or haphazard
uncertain1303
casualc1460
haphazard1576
roving1577
hazardous1585
chanceful1594
firmless1605
random1655
temerarious1660
aleatory1693
contingent1703
unlawed1789
by the way1846
chancy1860
fluky1880
hitty-missy1885
perchance1891
happenchance1905
happenstance1905
willy-nilly1933
1703 W. Burkitt Expos. Notes New Test. Acts xiv. 20 The breath of the People, (that contingent judge of Good and Evil) which rather attend[s] the vain then the Vertuous.
1725 D. Defoe Compl. Eng. Tradesman I. xiii. 198 The contingent nature of trade renders every man liable to disaster.
1744 J. Harris Three Treat. i. 19 Call those things..which are liable to Change and Motion, contingent Natures; and those, which are not liable, necessary Natures.
1858 ‘G. Eliot’ Amos Barton v, in Scenes Clerical Life I. 91 In that toppling and contingent state, in which a very slight push from a malignant destiny would utterly upset it.
7. metaphorical
a. Not of the nature of necessary truth; true only under existing conditions. contingent matter (Logic): the subject matter of a proposition which is not necessarily or universally true.
ΚΠ
1588 A. Fraunce Lawiers Logike i. ii. f. 5 Discovering the validitie of everie reason, bee it necessary, whereof cometh science, or contingent, whence proceedeth opinion.
1628 T. Spencer Art of Logick 157 A true axiome is Contingent..when it is in such sort true, that it may also at sometime be false.
1656 tr. T. Hobbes Elements Philos. i. iii. 28 A Contingent Proposition is that which at one time may be true, at another time false; as Every Crow is Black.
1785 T. Reid Ess. Intellect. Powers ii. xx. 329 The truths attested by our senses..are contingent and limited to time and place.
1856 J. F. Ferrier Inst. Metaphysic (ed. 2) xxii. §1. 385 The region of contingent truth—of truth, in regard to cognition, which might conceivably have been other than it is.
1877 E. Caird Crit. Acct. Philos. Kant Introd. v. 98 Leibnitz draws a wide distinction between contingent and necessary truth, between truths of fact, and truths of reason.
b. That does not exist of itself, but in dependence on something else.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > effect, result, or consequence > [adjective] > dependent or contingent
relativea1500
perpendicular1555
dependent1593
dependential1646
contingent1785
depending1816
conditioned1851
1785 T. Reid Ess. Intellect. Powers vi. i. 414 The judgements we form are either of things necessary, or of things contingent.
1788 T. Reid Ess. Active Powers Man i. v, in Wks. II. 523/1 Contingent existence is that which depended upon the power, and will of its cause.
1857 H. T. Buckle Hist. Civilisation Eng. I. iii. 146 The senses only supply what is finite and contingent.
1877 E. Caird Crit. Acct. Philos. Kant ii. xvi. 573 The contingent, in the sense in which that word is applied to objects of experience, means that which has a cause in something other than itself, something which existed previously.
c. Non-essential.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > extrinsicality or externality > [adjective] > non-essential
accidental1387
casual1398
incident1523
accidentary?1549
accessarya1555
chanceablea1557
accessory1563
circumstant1583
advenient1594
adventive1605
adventitial1607
circumstantial1608
contingent1628
adventious1633
incidental1644
accessional1646
contingential1647
non-essential1647
extra-essential1667
attachable1798
dividuous1816
inessential1832
peripheral1902
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical proposition > [adjective] > of or assigning an attribute > of or relating to accidents
accidentala1398
casual1398
accidentary?1549
contingent1628
contingential1647
non-essential1843
1628 T. Spencer Art of Logick 60 It floweth therefrom, not as a Contingent motion, but as a naturall emanation.
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Arithm. (1690) 94 As these Impediments are contingent, so they are also removeable.
1864 F. C. Bowen Treat. Logic i. 8 The Concept is the Intuition stripped of its contingent or unessential attributes.
8. Dependent for its occurrence or character on or upon some prior occurrence or condition.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > effect, result, or consequence > [adjective] > dependent or contingent > on something
contingent1613
pendulous1655
incidental upon1851
1613 J. Salkeld Treat. Angels 359 Those things which are altogether contingent and dependent of mans will.
1655 H. L'Estrange Reign King Charles 89 In things contingent upon free and voluntary agents, all the Devils in hell can but blunder.
1838 A. De Morgan Ess. Probabilities 51 1st event; certainly happens, and gives either H or T..2nd event; does not certainly happen, but is contingent upon the first throw being T.
1875 W. Stubbs Constit. Hist. II. xvii. 567 The continuance of the aid is made contingent on the continuance of the war.
1875 C. Lyell & L. Lyell Princ. Geol. (ed. 12) II. ii. xxix. 129 The phenomena..may be simply an accident contingent on the principal cause of disturbance.
9. Law. Dependent on a pre-contemplated probability; provisionally liable to exist or take effect; conditional; not absolute.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > testing > attestation, witness, evidence > qualification > [adjective]
conditionalc1380
conditionate1533
conditionated1581
otherwise1602
provisory1611
cautionated1623
provisionala1626
provisive1650
conditioneda1656
subject1662
limitative1682
springing1685
eventual1692
contingent1710
stipulated1766
provisionary1775
conditional1864
mitigated1884
society > law > legal document > [adjective] > parts of > specific clauses or provisions
conditional1552
modal1590
resolutivea1623
contingent1710
resolutory1818
1710 London Gaz. No. 4735/4 Then to Trustees to preserve the Contingent Remainders.
1767 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. (new ed.) II. 169 Contingent or executory remainders are where the estate in remainder is limited to take effect, either to a dubious and uncertain person, or upon a dubious and uncertain event; so that the particular estate may chance to be determined, and the remainder never take effect.
1800 A. Addison Rep. Cases Pennsylvania 33 The debt was contingent, and the contingency had not happened.
1834 F. Marryat Peter Simple II. vii. 109 Still we are not looked upon as actual, but only contingent, inheritors of the title.
1845 J. Williams Princ. Law Real Prop. ii. ii. 202 The general opinion appears to be in favour of the antiquity of contingent remainders.
10. contingent force n. = B. 5b.
ΚΠ
1856 Calcutta Rev. XXVI. Mar. 556 In 1777 this Contingent force was entirely transferred to the Company.
B. n.† 3. An accessory which may or may not be present. Obsolete.
1. A thing coming by chance, an accident.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > chance or causelessness > [noun] > chance or fortuitous circumstance
hazard1340
accidencea1393
a venture's strokec1450
chance1487
contingent1548
circumstance1599
lotterya1616
accidency1645
by-accident1648
frisk1665
accidentala1834
1548 R. Hutten tr. J. Spangenberg Sum of Diuinitie sig. Cjv If God be not the cause of synne, are the contingentes or changinges to be graunted?
1553 S. Cabot in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (1589) i. 261 In such purchases or contingents, as shall fortune to any one of them.
1637 T. Heywood Dial. 300 All contingents brooke with patience.
1743 W. Ellis London & Country Brewer (ed. 2) III. 230 It..keeps the Body safe..against the Putrefaction of hot Airs, Liquids, Earths, or any opposite Contingent.
1788 [see sense B. 2]. 2. A thing that may or may not happen, a possibility of the future.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > occurrence > [noun] > occurrence or event > possible
contingencya1626
eventuality1650
contingent1655
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > possibility > [noun] > a possible thing or circumstance
possibilityc1460
perhapsa1535
potential1587
potentiality1587
maybe1598
contingencya1626
contingent1655
conceivable1659
possiblea1674
conceptiblea1676
cogitable1678
chance1778
it's an idea1841
may1849
might1850
thought1857
possibly1881
shot1923
1655 J. Bramhall Def. True Liberty 131 By contingents, I understand all things which may be done, and may not be done, may happen or may not happen, by reason of the indetermination, or accidentall concurrence of the causes.
1659 J. Rushworth Hist. Coll. 132 The eyes of humane providence cannot see beyond its Horizon; it cannot ascertain future Contingents.
a1711 T. Ken Hymnarium 31 in Wks. (1721) II. Decreed Contingents they remain, Not link'd in any fatal Chain.
1788 T. Reid Ess. Active Powers Man iv. x There seems to me to be a great analogy between the prescience of future contingents, and the memory of past contingents.
ΚΠ
1770 J. Langhorne & W. Langhorne tr. Cato Major in Plutarch Lives (1879) I. 377/2 He [Cato] considered eloquence as a valuable contingent.
4. A thing contingent or dependent on the existence or occurrence of something else.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > effect, result, or consequence > [noun] > dependence > a thing depending on something else
by-dependencya1616
conditionate1678
contingency1818
contingenta1848
a1848 R. W. Hamilton Rewards & Punishm. (1853) i. 62 Reward and punishment are contingents.
5.
a. ‘The proportion that falls to any person upon a division’ (Johnson). [So in French.]
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > giving > distributing or dealing out > an allotted share, portion, or part > [noun]
dealc825
lotOE
dolea1225
partc1300
portion?1316
sort1382
parcelc1400
skiftc1400
pane1440
partagec1450
shift1461
skair1511
allotment1528
snapshare1538
share1539
slice1548
fee1573
snap1575
moiety1597
snatch1601
allotterya1616
proportiona1616
symbol1627
dealth1637
quantum1649
cavelc1650
snip1655
sortition1671
snack1683
quota1688
contingency1723
snick1723
contingent1728
whack1785
divvy1872
end1903
bite1925
society > armed hostility > armed forces > the Army > unit of army > [noun]
companyc1325
compartment1590
brigade1637
detachment1678
contingent1728
unit1861
crowd1901
crush1904
mahalla1906
outfit1909
mob1916
serial1941
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Contingent, is also a Term of Relation for the Quota that falls to any Person upon a Division... Each Prince of Germany, in time of War, is to furnish so many Men, so much Money, and Munition for his Contingent.
1775 E. Burke Speech Resol. for Concil. Colonies 57 Either..you settle a permanent contingent, which will and must be trifling; and then you have no effectual revenue: or you change the quota at every exigency.
1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India I. ii. iii. 123 Officers are appointed..for collecting the contingents for the expense of the state.
b. esp. The proportion of troops furnished by each of several contracting powers; a force contributed to form part of an army or navy.
ΚΠ
1728 [see sense B. 5a].
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) II. 225 The states of the empire must furnish their respective quotas of soldiers, called their contingents.
1799 Duke of Wellington Dispatches (1837) I. 14 The Nizam's Contingent as this force was denominated.
1856 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. v. 383 Henry and Francis had been called upon to furnish a contingent against Solyman.
1867 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest I. vi. 572 Thirty-two ships, probably a fresh contingent which had just come from Denmark.
c. transferred and figurative (cf. contribution n. 3a.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > easiness > aid, help, or assistance > [noun] > subsidiary or contributory help > a subsidiary help
factor1445
adjutory1508
underhelp1579
subsidiary1603
under-powera1807
contingent1817
tributary1859
contribuenta1866
the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [noun] > of an assembly, camp, etc.
quarter1589
contingent1891
1817 S. T. Coleridge Biogr. Lit. 219 That my history would add its contingent to the enforcement of one important truth.
1856 Househ. Words 12 Apr. 295/1 No cheerful glow came thro' crimson curtains, as a generous contingent from some warm cosy nest to the bleak, bare, outside night.
1891 Leeds Mercury 25 May 5/2 The London contingent of the chorus numbers 2,500.
Draft additions March 2006
contingent fee n. Law (a) an estate for which inheritance is contingent on other factors; cf. sense A. 9 (obsolete); (b) originally U.S. = contingency fee n. at contingency n. Additions.
ΚΠ
1685 Arguments Late Ld. Chancellor Nottingham ii. 27 It is not impossible to limit a Contingent Fee upon a Fee.
1829 J. B. Gibson in T. Sergeant & W. Rawle Rep. Supreme Court Pennsylvania 16 220 The counsel may have had no personal interest in the event; but, if any thing of this sort had been shown, such for instance as a contingent fee, it would have afforded ground for a challenge.
1879 Law Rep.: Chancery Div. 12 144 The tenant for life—that is, the mortgagor—died in 1844, having survived both of her daughters, so that the contingent fee never became a vested fee, and therefore the ultimate fee descended to the heir-at-law of the original testator.
1992 D. Pannick Advocates vi. 189 The opposition to contingent fees has focused on the undesirability of lawyers agreeing to receive a high percentage of any damages which might be recovered by their client.
Draft additions March 2007
contingent liability n. a potential financial liability; (Accounting) a future financial liability which may only arise in specific circumstances or is difficult to quantify, but must be accounted for.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > insolvency > indebtedness > [noun] > a debt > other types of debt
crown debt1641
debt of honour1646
oblata1658
judgment debt1702
bond-debt1707
rumple1746
contingent liability1798
overdraft1812
current liability1832
receivable1836
minority debt1897
negative equity1946
eligible liability1971
1798 C. Durnford & E. H. East Rep. Cases King's Bench VII. 366 Such debt is proveable although the consideration for it be a future contingent liability.
1844 Times 22 June 8/3 The separate covenants..created a separate debt from the date of such covenant, and not merely a contingent liability to pay after notice was given.
1897 Middletown (N.Y.) Daily Argus 15 Apr. 1/5 A contingent liability upon the indorsement of commercial paper of about $12,000.
1952 Law & Contemp. Probl. 17 10 Some..assume a contingent liability which may or may not result in actual payments to policyholders.
2002 D. Hey-Cunningham Financial Statem. Demystified (ed. 3) vi. 148 Items that probably will not occur or cannot be reliably measured are included as contingent liabilities.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1893; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.n.c1400