Contingent Meaning
/kənˈtɪn.d͡ʒənt/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounAn event which may or may not happen; that which is unforeseen, undetermined, or dependent on something in the future.
nounThat which falls to one in a division or apportionment among a number; a suitable share.
Sentence Examples
Our departure tomorrow is contingent on fair weather.
His success is contingent upon his efforts.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The scholarship is ____ upon achieving high grades this semester.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Our departure tomorrow is ____ on fair weather.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English, from Old French contingent (whence con- and -ent), from Medieval Latin contingens (“possible, contingent”), present participle of contingere (“to touch, meet, attain to, happen”), from com- (“together”) + tangere (“to touch”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 2014 November 27, Ian Black, “Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis”, in The Guardian:
"The imposition of the death penalty should not be contingent on a particular jury's unguided understanding of a legal term of art."
— 1989, Thurgood Marshall, “Dissenting Opinion”, in Watkins v. Murray:
"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.”"
— 2021, Meghan O'Gieblyn, quoting Hans Blumenberg, chapter 11, in God, Human, Animal, Machine […] , →ISBN:
"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."
— 2023 November 5, Sam Jones, “PSOE members back Catalan amnesty plan to secure power in Spain”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The scholarship is ____ upon achieving high grades this semester.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Our departure tomorrow is ____ on fair weather.