contingency
English · Thesaurus
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contingency
- /kənˈtɪnd͡ʒənsi/
Where it comes from
From contingence + -y (16th century).
noun contingencies
-
The quality of being contingent, of happening by chance.
Similar: possibility, unpredictability, option, choice, alternative, contingency · Opposite: inevitability, impossibility
-
A possibility; something which may or may not happen. A chance occurrence, especially in finance, unexpected expenses.
There was also the imperative necessity of creating a reserve fund for unforeseen contingencies, and the question ever present was how was money to be found.
Similar: chance, contingency, contingent, eventuality, possibility, potentiality · Opposite: castle in the air, impossibility, pie in the sky, pipe dream
- 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 they do not fulfill the contract according to the specification.
- A statement which is neither a tautology nor a contradiction.
Opposite: noncontingency
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: eventuality, contingent, incident, possibility, event, circumstance, precautionary, provident, warning, caution, reaction, expediency, response, accident, resilience, anticipation
noun
Opposite: noncontingency
Translations
Every language
noun quality of being contingent; unpredictability
| Español | contingencia, eventualidad |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 偶然 gūzen, 偶然性 gūzensei, 偶有性 gūyūsei |
| Português | contingência |
| Français | contingence, éventualité |
| Deutsch | Kontingenz, Eventualität |
| Italiano | contingenza |
| Русский | непредви́димость nepredvídimostʹ |
noun possibility; something which may or may not happen
| Español | contingencia, eventualidad, imprevisto |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 偶然 gūzen, 偶然性 gūzensei |
| Português | contingência |
| Français | éventualité |
| Deutsch | Eventualität, mögliches Ereignis, Eventualfall |
| Italiano | imprevisto, casualità, eventualità |
| Ελληνικά | ενδεχόμενο endechómeno |
| Русский | случа́йность slučájnostʹ, непредви́денность nepredvídennostʹ |
noun amount of money that will be paid if a project does not succeed
| 日本語 | 成功報酬 seikō-hōshū |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | Entschädigung, Entschädigungszahlung |
| Italiano | indennizzo, penale |
noun a statement which is neither a tautology nor a contradiction
| Deutsch | Kontingenz, Neutralität |
|---|
Talk about this word "contingency." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/contingency. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. contingency. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/contingency "contingency." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/contingency.Cite this
@misc{contingency_2026,
title = {contingency},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/contingency},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
