Contingency meaning

kən-tĭn'jən-sē
Contingency means something that could happen or come up depending on other occurrences.

An example of a contingency is the unexpected need for a bandage on a hike.

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A possibility that must be prepared for; a future emergency.
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The definition of a contingency is something that depends on something else in order to happen.

An example of contingency is a military strategy that can’t go forward until an earlier piece of the war plan is complete.

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An event that may occur but that is not likely or intended; a possibility.
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(countable) An amount of money which a party to a contract has to pay to the other party (usually the supplier of a major project to the client) if he or she does not fulfill the contract according to the specification.
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The condition of being dependent on chance; uncertainty.
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Something incidental to something else.
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The quality or condition of being contingent; esp., dependence on chance or uncertain conditions.
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Something whose occurrence depends on chance or uncertain conditions; a possible, unforeseen, or accidental occurrence.

Be prepared for any contingency.

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Some thing or event which depends on or is incidental to another.

The contingencies of war.

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A future event or circumstance whose occurrence is not certain.
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A fee charged for a lawyer’s services in an action that is paid only if the client wins his or her lawsuit or receives a payment from an out-of-court settlement. Usually, the fee is a percentage of the amount recovered. Further-more, whatever the result of the action, the client will pay the court costs and the other out-of-pocket expenses (postage, subpoena fees, and so on) incurred by the lawyer during the course of the action. Although contingency fees are frequently charged for a lawyer’s services in a civil action, it is unethical to charge this way for services in a criminal action. Also called contingent fee. See also attorney’s fees and champerty.
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(uncountable) The quality of being contingent, of happening by chance; unpredictability. [1560s]
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(countable) A possibility; something which may or may not happen. A chance occurrence, especially in finance, unexpected expenses. [1610s]
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(logic, countable) A statement which is neither a tautology nor a contradiction.
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Origin of contingency

contingent +‎ -cy (16th century).

Sentence Examples

  • This type of contingency was not one we planned for.

  • During exercises, the government's premier contingency operations compound in the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee was populated only by maintenance crews and a few relaxed guards.

  • Bernstorff was bound by treaty to assist Russia in such a contingency, but he took care that the assistance so rendered should be as trifling as possible, to avoid offending Great Britain and Prussia.

  • A further deed poll providing for the removal of a General in the contingency of "mental incapacity" or other "unfitness," and for the election of a successor, was executed by Booth in July 1904.

  • The British admiral, when informed that the French were at sea, justified Napoleon's estimate of his probable course in such a contingency, by making a useless cruise to Egypt.

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Words near contingency in the Dictionary