contingent
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
An event which may or may not happen.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhntinjuhntSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kənˈtɪndʒənt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An event which may or may not happen; that which is unforeseen, undetermined, or dependent on something in the future.
That which falls to one in a division or apportionment among a number; a suitable share.
adjective
Possible or liable, but not certain, to occur.
with upon or on
Dependent on something that is undetermined or unknown, that may or may not occur.
Temporary.
Not logically necessarily true or false.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An event which may or may not happen; that which is unforeseen, undetermined, or dependent on something in the future.
Used this way, contingent is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use contingent
- “The peacekeeping force includes one British contingent.”noun
- “Each nation sent a contingent of athletes to the Olympics.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The probability that an event will occur given that one or more other events have occurred.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: event which may or may not happen
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.