contingent
Syllables: con·tin·gent/kənˈtɪn.d͡ʒənt/
contingent noun: an event which may or may not happen; that which is unforeseen, undetermined, or dependent on something in the future.
Noun
contingent (plural contingents)
- An event which may or may not happen; that which is unforeseen, undetermined, or dependent on something in the future.
- Synonyms:
- contingency, chance, eventuality, possibility, potentiality
- That which falls to one in a division or apportionment among a number; a suitable share.
- Synonyms:
- proportion
- A quota of troops.
- 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...2014 November 27, Ian Black, “Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis”, in The Guardian
Adjective
contingent (comparative more contingent, superlative most contingent)
- Possible or liable, but not certain, to occur.
- Synonyms:
- incidental, casual
- Antonyms:
- certain, inevitable, necessary, impossible
- Dependent on something that is undetermined or unknown, that may or may not occur.
- The success of his undertaking is contingent upon events which he cannot control.
- a contingent estate
- Synonyms:
- conditional, conditioned, qualified
- Not logically necessarily true or false.
- Temporary.
- contingent labor
- contingent worker
contingent meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
contingent in Hindi
- contingent, cohort, group
- दस्ता dastā
contingent in Tamil
- ஐயப்பாடான எதிர்பாராப்பின்னிகழ்வு, நிகழ்தகவு
contingent in Urdu
- امکانی, اتفاقی, دستہ
contingent in Bengali
- নির্ভরশীল, আপৎকালীন
More languagesFewer languages
- contingent in Malayalam
- അനിശ്ചിതമായ ഒന്നിനെ ആശ്രയിക്കുന്ന, അധിഷ്ഠിതമായ, വേറൊന്നിൽ അധിഷ്ഠിതമായി നില്ക്കുന്ന, മറ്റൊന്നിനെ ആശ്രയിച്ചിരിക്കുന്ന
- contingent in Nepali
- कन्टिनजेन्ट
- contingent in Arabic
- مَشْرُوْط mašruwṭ
- contingent in Persian
- وابسته vâbaste
Examples of contingent in a sentence
- 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:
Synonyms of contingent
- contingency
- chance
- eventuality
- possibility
- potentiality
- proportion
- incidental
- casual
- conditional
- conditioned
1 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of contingent
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | contingents |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more contingent |
| superlative | most contingent |
Origin of contingent
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”).
Words formed from contingent
Phrases with contingent
Questions about contingent
- What does contingent mean?
- Contingent means an event which may or may not happen; that which is unforeseen, undetermined, or dependent on something in the future.
- What is contingent in Hindi?
- Contingent in Hindi is दस्ता (dastā). See Contingent meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use contingent in a sentence?
- 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.
- What part of speech is contingent?
- Contingent can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce contingent?
- Contingent is pronounced /kənˈtɪn.d͡ʒənt/.
- What is the plural of contingent?
- The plural of contingent is contingents.
Words near contingent in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: contingent (page history and authors); दस्ता (Hindi) (page history and authors); contingent (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); contingent (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Contingent (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); contingent (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); contingent (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
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Cite this entry: “contingent.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/contingent. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.