contingent

English

Etymology

From Old French contingent, from Medieval Latin contingens (“possible, contingent”), present participle of contingere (“to touch, meet, attain to, happen”), from com- (“together”) + tangere (“to touch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈtɪn.d͡ʒənt/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: con‧tin‧gent

Noun

contingent (plural contingents)

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

   Synonym: contingency

2. That which falls to one in a division or apportionment among a number; a suitable share.

   Synonym: proportion

3. (military) A quota of troops.
   • 2014, Ian Black, "Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis", The Guardian, 27 November 2014:

     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.

Translations

an event which may or may not happen — see contingency

that which falls to one in a division or apportionment among a number

• Bulgarian: дял (bg) m (djal), пай (bg) m (paj), контингент (bg) m (kontingent)
• Finnish: osuus (fi)
• German: Anteil (de) m, Kontingent n
• Greek: ενδεχόμενο (el) (endechómeno)
• Portuguese: contingência (pt) f
• Russian: до́ля (ru) f (dólja), пай (ru) m (paj), кво́та (ru) f (kvóta), континге́нт (ru) m (kontingént)
• Spanish: contingente (es) m
• Swedish: andel (sv)
• Turkish: koşullu (tr)

a quota of troops

• Finnish: komennuskunta
• German: Kontingent n, Truppenkontingent (de) n
• Irish: meitheal f
• Italian: contingente (it) m, scaglione (it) m, unità (it) f, reparto (it) m, quota (it) f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kontingent (no) m

  Nynorsk: kontingent m

• Serbo-Croatian: kontingent (sh) m
• Spanish: contingente (es) m

Adjective

contingent (comparative more contingent, superlative most contingent)

1. Possible or liable, but not certain to occur.

   Synonyms: incidental, casual

   Antonyms: certain, inevitable, necessary, impossible

2. (with upon or on) Dependent on something that is undetermined or unknown, that may or may not occur.

   Synonyms: conditional; see also Thesaurus:conditional

   The success of his undertaking is contingent upon events which he cannot control.

   a contingent estate

   • 1989, Thurgood Marshall, “Dissenting Opinion”, in Watkins v. Murray‎^[1]:

     The imposition of the death penalty should not be contingent on a particular jury's unguided understanding of a legal term of art.

3. Not logically necessarily true or false.
4. Temporary.

   contingent labor

   contingent worker

Derived terms

• contingentism
• contingentness
• contingent charge
• contingent remainder

Related terms

• contact
• contingence
• contingency
• contingent claim

Translations

possible, liable, incidental, casual

• Bulgarian: случаен (bg) (slučaen), условен (bg) (usloven)
• Dutch: contingent (nl), eventueel (nl)
• Finnish: mahdollinen (fi)
• French: contingent (fr), éventuel (fr), hypothétique (fr)
• German: möglich (de), kontingent (de)
• Italian: contingente (it), casuale (it), transitorio (it), accidentale (it), fortuito (it)
• Japanese: 偶然の (ja) (gūzen no)
• Portuguese: contingente (pt)
• Russian: возмо́жный (ru) (vozmóžnyj), случа́йный (ru) (slučájnyj)
• Spanish: contingente (es)
• Swedish: eventuell (sv), oviss (sv), möjlig (sv)
• Turkish: muhtemel (tr), olası (tr)

dependent on something unknown, that may or may not occur

• Bulgarian: зависещ (bg) (zavisešt), случаен (bg) (slučaen)
• Dutch: contingent (nl)
• Finnish: riippuvainen (fi), ehdollinen (fi)
• German: abhängig (von)
• Persian: وابسته‎ (fa) (vâbaste)
• Portuguese: contingente (pt)
• Swedish: avhängig (sv), villkorlig (sv), beroende (sv)
• Turkish: bağlı (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} eventuala (eo)

Further reading

• contingent in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• contingent in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• contingent at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• contenting

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin contingēns.

Adjective

contingent (masculine and feminine plural contingents)

1. contingent

Noun

contingent m (plural contingents)

1. contingent

Related terms

• contingència

Further reading

• “contingent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “contingent”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “contingent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “contingent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

From Latin contingēns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.tɛ̃.ʒɑ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

contingent (feminine contingente, masculine plural contingents, feminine plural contingentes)

1. contingent

Related terms

• contingence

Noun

contingent m (plural contingents)

1. quota
2. contingent

Further reading

• “contingent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Verb

contingent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of contingō

Romanian

Etymology

From French contingent, from Latin contingens.

Adjective

contingent m or n (feminine singular contingentă, masculine plural contingenți, feminine and neuter plural contingente)

1. contingent

Declension

Declension of contingent

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	contingent		contingentă	contingenți	contingente
	definite	contingentul		contingenta	contingenții	contingentele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	contingent		contingente	contingenți	contingente
	definite	contingentului		contingentei	contingenților	contingentelor