How to use incumbent in a sentence
40 example sentences · adjective, noun
Incumbent means chiefly followed by on or upon: leaning, or lying, reclining, or resting, on something else. Example: “If the incumbent senator dies, he is replaced by a person appointed by the governor.”
Examples of incumbent by meaning
adjectiveOf a body part such as a hair, spine, or wing: bent downwards or otherwise positioned so that it, or part of it, rests...
- the incumbent toe of a bird
adjectiveBeing the current holder of an office or a title; specifically (Christianity, obsolete), of an ecclesiastical benefice.
- If the incumbent senator dies, he is replaced by a person appointed by the governor.
- Sunday's results confirmed that Uruguay had followed a global trend of incumbent parties losing vote share compared with the previous election, as the biggest year for elections in history comes to an end.2024 November 25, Reuters, “Uruguay election: opposition centre-left figure Yamandu Orsi wins presidential runoff”, in Katharine Viner...
adjectiveFollowed by on or upon: imposed on one as an obligation, especially due to one's office or position.
- Proper behaviour is incumbent on all holders of positions of trust.
- It is incumbent upon all of us to ensure we're well prepared.2023 August 25, Braden Dupuis, “Opinion: The things we leave behind”, in Pique Newsmagazine, Whistler, B.C.: Glacier Media Inc., →ISSN...
- While it's incumbent on Congress to act, Zimmern told guests on Monday night that everyone can play a part.2023 September 19, Solcyre Burga, “'We Can Do It': Celebrity Chef Andrew Zimmern on Finding the Will to Solve Hunger”, in Time, New York...
nounThe current holder of an office or title; (specifically, Christianity) the holder of an ecclesiastical benefice.
- An incumbent must defend the realities and compromises of government, while a challenger is freer to promise the earth, details to follow.2012 October 6, “The first presidential debate: Back in the centre, back in the game”, in The Economist, London: The Economist Group...
- Just as interest grew under previous incumbent-but-one Grant Shapps, so interest could wane under new Transport Secretary Mark Harper.2022 November 16, Philip Haigh, “Trans-Pennine … Transformative”, in Rail, number 970, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN...
- What are younger people, especially, to make of a political culture in which incumbents cling so tenaciously to their seats?2023 September 24, David Remnick, “The Washington Gerontocracy”, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC...
nounA holder of a position as supplier to a market or market segment that allows the holder to earn above-normal profits.
- American capitalism is becoming like its European cousin: established firms with the scale and scope to deal with a growing thicket of regulations are doing well, but new companies are withering on the vine or selling themselves to incumbents.2012 September 29, “Schumpeter: Fixing the capitalist machine”, in The Economist, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from...
More sentences with incumbent
- A majority of voters believed the election was fixed in favor of the incumbent.From the entry fix
- He acted in good faith to restore broken diplomatic ties after defeating the incumbent.From the entry faith
- The incumbent governor was unhorsed by the scandal that broke during his reelection campaign.From the entry unhorse
- I followed the incumbent throughout the election.From the entry follow
- The incumbent candidate was voted out in a tight race.From the entry vote out
- Wanglin Lowangdong, incumbent MLA of Borduria Bogapani trails in the constituency.2019 May 23, The Hindu Net Desk, “Arunachal Pradesh Assembly results live updates | BJP wins 7 Assembly seats, leads in both LS seats”, in…. From the entry MLA
- Typically the person challenging the petitions is a city payroller who owes his job to the incumbent.2006 December 15, Ben Joravsky, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Machines; One Way to Trip Up an Incumbent? Untie His Shoelace”, in…. From the entry payroller
- The struggle over display space heavily favors the incumbents and encourages what might be called brand nepotism.1989, Report on Business Magazine, volume 6, numbers 1-6, page 100. From the entry nepotism
- Well beyond buffhood is the incumbent partisan of astronomy's cause at the Kodak Research Laboratories.1973, Scientific American, volume 228, page 43. From the entry buffhood
- Incumbent Sadiq Khan wants a third term.2024 April 3, Howard Johnston, “TfL is overflowing with ideas... but is short of the capital”, in RAIL, number 1006, page 30. From the entry ballot box
- Even in pro-Beijing strongholds such as North Point, fresh-faced candidates running on an explicitly pro-democracy platform unseated longtime incumbents.2019 November 24, Shibani Mahtani, Simon Denyer, Tiffany Liang, Anna Kam, “Hong Kong’s pro-democracy parties sweep pro-Beijing…. From the entry North Point
- These elections mark a personal humiliation for incumbent Ms.2017 June 9, Sotirios Zartaloudis, “Theresa May wins election, but ends up the biggest loser”, in The Globe and Mail. From the entry own goal
- Advowson is the right to appoint the incumbent clergy of a parish, so three advowsons meant three incumbents.2017, Ben Aaronovitch, The Furthest Station, Gollancz, page 88. From the entry advowson
- Yes, incumbents of both parties—especially those incumbents facing tough re-election campaigns—don't want to be on the hook for this vote.2008 September 29, “Washington to Wall Street: Drop Dead”, in Newsweek, retrieved 15 Jun 2011. From the entry on the hook
- Injury and suspension unfortunately dampened his career, he was somewhat inexplicably dropped as the incumbent test prop after 91.1999 August 25, Dr Who, “Most Under Rated Players - This Decade”, in aus.sport.rugby-league (Usenet). From the entry tough as teak
- The incumbent and embattled Henyard lost Tuesday’s Democratic primary to Trustee Jason House by a landslide, with House winning nearly 90% of the vote.2025 February 25, Gabriel Castillo, Jenna Barnes, Ben Bradley, Michael Johnson, Erik Runge, “Defeated in Dolton: Trustee Jason House beats…. From the entry house
- He was always prepared to contest an open ballot, when he viewed runs on the leadership as a free-for-all, but never challenged an incumbent leader.2008, Peter Van Onselen, Wayne Errington, John Winston Howard: The Definitive Biography, page 102. From the entry white-ant
- Jubilant Liberal supporters raised the roof of a Mississauga restaurant after incumbent Albina Guarnieri was swept back into office for her seventh term.2008 October 15, Leslie Ferenc, “Voters opt for stability of Guarnieri”, in Toronto Star, Canada. From the entry raise the roof
- The goal of Extropianism is to enable those who want to be at the vanguard of the incumbent transformation into a ‘posthuman’ age.2004, Malcolm Miles, Tim Hall, Iain Borden, The City Cultures Reader, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 238. From the entry extropianism
- I travelled the country averaging a thousand miles a week and, since the previous incumbent had been a lazy bugger, managed to treble the business.2003, Clive Selwood, All the Moves (but None of the Licks), page 33. From the entry cinch
- Incumbent on the quest for vaguery are frustration and unrequited desire; complete accessibility is inherently denied as part of its most basic definition.2003, Annette Fierro, The Glass State: the technology of the spectacle, Paris, 1981-1998, page 103. From the entry vaguery
- Almost nobody in main-stream politics is as likely as a fourth-year incumbent to have just come off a stint of bad press.1983, Michael J. Robinson, Margaret A. Sheehan, Over the Wire and on TV. From the entry blood in the water
- But the calls of many which must be heeded personally make it incumbent upon me not to give, but to share what I can.1935 December 9, Elsie V. B. Grant, quotee, “FUND FOR NEEDIEST AIDED BY 422 IN DAY; […]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New…. From the entry Xmas Day
- “The incumbent wins when the economy is good” is a useful, weak prior, but not an iron law, and one that historically has had many exceptions.2024 March 28, Nate Silver, “How culture trumps economic class as the new political fault line”, in Silver Bulletin. From the entry noisy
- Labour’s retort was a very passive, Starmerian picture of their leader in neutral white T-shirt to watch the first England-Serbia fixture, lest he rock the incumbent Scottish vote.2024 June 21, Paul Flynn, “Only Sadiq Khan would be truly welcome at Pride — other politicians have lost their right”, in Evening Standard. From the entry Starmerian
- We need to want new companies to build these things, even if incumbents don’t like it, even if only to force the incumbents to build these things.2022 August 5, Jerusalem Demsas, quoting Marc Andreessen, “The Billionaire’s Dilemma”, in The Atlantic. From the entry regulatory capture
- Candidates for a state senate seat race in South Florida in which a spoiler appeared to help Republican challenger Ileana Garcia unseat incumbent Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez.2020 November 23, Scott Glover, Curt Devine, Drew Griffin, Scott Bronstein, “A Dark Money Mystery in Florida Centers on the Campaign of a…. From the entry challenger
- One Democratic Progressive politician considered a leading presidential contender, Su Tseng-chang, was soundly defeated in his bid to become mayor of Taipei by the incumbent, Hau Lung-bin.2010 November 27, “Taiwan Ruling Party Wins 3 of 5 Votes”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2022…. From the entry Xinbei
- McGuire, 64, a retired science teacher and two-term incumbent on the Town Council, selected a card, the six of hearts, drawing approving oos and aws from his supporters.2009 June 17, Randal C. Archibold, “Election at a Draw, Arizona Town Cuts a Deck”, in New York Times. From the entry aw
- Any explanation for the triumph of the 'federalist' or sectionary movement at Toulon must, therefore, begin by examining the profound isolation of the incumbent Jacobin administration.1991, Malcolm Crook, Toulon in War and Revolution, →ISBN, page 126. From the entry sectionary
Meaning of incumbent
- adjective Chiefly followed by on or upon: leaning, or lying, reclining, or resting, on something else.
- adjective Of an anther: lying on the inner side of the filament; also, of a cotyledon: having its back lying against the radicle.
- adjective Of a body part such as a hair, spine, or wing: bent downwards or otherwise positioned so that it, or part of it, rests on or touches something else; specifically (ornithology), of the hind toe of a bird: fully resting on a support.
Questions about incumbent in a sentence
- How do you use incumbent in a sentence?
- Incumbent is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “If the incumbent senator dies, he is replaced by a person appointed by the governor.”
- What is a short sentence with incumbent?
- “the incumbent toe of a bird”
- What does incumbent mean?
- Incumbent means chiefly followed by on or upon: leaning, or lying, reclining, or resting, on something else.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: incumbent (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this page: “How to use incumbent in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/incumbent. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
