contingency

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: con=tin=gen=cy

CIDE DICTIONARY

contingency, n. [Cf. F. contingence.].

•  Union or connection; the state of touching or contact.  J. Gregory.  [1913 Webster]
•  The quality or state of being contingent or casual; the possibility of coming to pass.  [1913 Webster]

  "Aristotle says we are not to build certain rules on the contingency of human actions."  [1913 Webster]
•  An event which may or may not occur; that which is possible or probable; a fortuitous event; a chance.  [1913 Webster]

  "The remarkable position of the queen rendering her death a most important contingency."  [1913 Webster]
•  An adjunct or accessory.  Wordsworth.  [1913 Webster]
•  A certain possible event that may or may not happen, by which, when happening, some particular title may be affected.

Syn. -- Casualty; accident; chance.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

contingency, n. (pl. -ies)
1 a future event or circumstance regarded as likely to occur, or as influencing present action.
2 something dependent on another uncertain event or occurrence.
3 uncertainty of occurrence.
4 a one thing incident to another. b an incidental expense etc.

Idiom

contingency fund a fund to cover incidental or unforeseen expenses.

Etymology

earlier contingence f. LL contingentia (as CONTINGENT)

THESAURUS

contingency

accessory, accident, accidental, addendum, addition, adjunct, adventure, appendage, appurtenance, aptitude, aptness, auxiliary, bare possibility, blind bargain, borderline case, break, casualty, chance, chance hit, circumstance, collateral, coming to be, conceivability, conceivableness, condition, conjuncture, contingent, correlation, crisis, crossroads, dependence, double contingency, emergency, even chance, event, eventuality, eventuation, exigency, extra, fluke, fortuity, freak accident, gamble, good chance, good possibility, guess, hap, happening, happenstance, hazard, hope, incidence, incident, incidental, inessential, interrelation, juncture, liability, liableness, likelihood, likeliness, long odds, long shot, lucky shot, materialization, mere chance, nonessential, not-self, obligation, occasion, occurrence, off chance, open question, opportunity, other, outside chance, outside hope, pass, piece of guesswork, pinch, possibility, possibleness, potential, potentiality, probability, proneness, prospect, question, realization, relativity, remote possibility, secondary, sight-unseen transaction, small hope, strait, subsidiary, superaddition, supplement, the attainable, the feasible, the possible, thinkability, thinkableness, toss-up, touch and go, turning point, undecided issue, unessential, virtuality, wager, weakness, what is possible, what may be, what might be, zero hour

ROGET THESAURUS

contingency

Circumstance

N circumstance, situation, phase, position, posture, attitude, place, point, terms, regime, footing, standing, status, occasion, juncture, conjunctive, contingency, predicament, emergence, emergency, exigency, crisis, pinch, pass, push, occurrence, turning point, bearings, how the land lies, surroundings, context, environment, location, contingency, dependence (uncertainty), causation, attribution, circumstantial, given, conditional, provisional, critical, modal, contingent, incidental, adventitious, limitative, in the circumstances, under the circumstances, the circumstances, conditions, thus, in such wise, accordingly, that being the case, such being the case, in view of the circumstances, that being so, sith, since, seeing that, as matters stand, as things go, as times go, conditionally, provided, if, in case, if so, if so be, if it be so, depending on circumstances, in certain circumstances, under certain conditions, if it so happen, if it so turn out, in the event of, in such a contingency, in such a case, in such an event, provisionally, unless, without, according to circumstances, according to the occasion, as it may happen, as it may turn out, as it may be, as the case may be, as the wind blows, pro re nata, yet are my sins not those of circumstance, circumstance, situation, phase, position, posture, attitude, place, point, terms, regime, footing, standing, status, occasion, juncture, conjunctive, contingency, predicament, emergence, emergency, exigency, crisis, pinch, pass, push, occurrence, turning point, bearings, how the land lies, surroundings, context, environment, location, contingency, dependence (uncertainty), causation, attribution, circumstantial, given, conditional, provisional, critical, modal, contingent, incidental, adventitious, limitative, in the circumstances, under the circumstances, the circumstances, conditions, thus, in such wise, accordingly, that being the case, such being the case, in view of the circumstances, that being so, sith, since, seeing that, as matters stand, as things go, as times go, conditionally, provided, if, in case, if so, if so be, if it be so, depending on circumstances, in certain circumstances, under certain conditions, if it so happen, if it so turn out, in the event of, in such a contingency, in such a case, in such an event, provisionally, unless, without, according to circumstances, according to the occasion, as it may happen, as it may turn out, as it may be, as the case may be, as the wind blows, pro re nata, yet are my sins not those of circumstance.

Eventuality

N eventuality, event, occurrence, incident, affair, matter, thing, episode, happening, proceeding, contingency, juncture, experience, fact, matter of fact, naked fact, bare facts, just the facts, phenomenon, advent, business, concern, transaction, dealing, proceeding, circumstance, particular, casualty, accident, adventure, passage, crisis, pass, emergency, contingency, consequence, opportunity (occasion), the world, life, things, doings, affairs in general, things in general, affairs in general, the times, state of affairs, order of the day, course of things, tide of things, stream of things, current of things, run of things, march of things, course of events, ups and downs of life, vicissitudes of life, chapter of accidents, situation, happening, going on, doing, current, in the wind, in the air, afloat, on foot, afoot, on the tapis, at issue, in question, incidental, eventful, stirring, bustling, full of incident, memorable, momentous, signal, eventually, in the event of, in case, just in case, in the course of things, as things, times go, as the world goes, wags, as the tree falls, cat jumps, as it may turn out, happen, that's the way the ball bounces, that's the way the cookie crumbles, you never know what may turn up, you never know what the future will bring, the plot thickens, breasts the blows of circumstance, so runs round of life from hour to hour, sprinkled along the waste of years, eventuality, event, occurrence, incident, affair, matter, thing, episode, happening, proceeding, contingency, juncture, experience, fact, matter of fact, naked fact, bare facts, just the facts, phenomenon, advent, business, concern, transaction, dealing, proceeding, circumstance, particular, casualty, accident, adventure, passage, crisis, pass, emergency, contingency, consequence, opportunity (occasion), the world, life, things, doings, affairs in general, things in general, affairs in general, the times, state of affairs, order of the day, course of things, tide of things, stream of things, current of things, run of things, march of things, course of events, ups and downs of life, vicissitudes of life, chapter of accidents, situation, happening, going on, doing, current, in the wind, in the air, afloat, on foot, afoot, on the tapis, at issue, in question, incidental, eventful, stirring, bustling, full of incident, memorable, momentous, signal, eventually, in the event of, in case, just in case, in the course of things, as things, times go, as the world goes, wags, as the tree falls, cat jumps, as it may turn out, happen, that's the way the ball bounces, that's the way the cookie crumbles, you never know what may turn up, you never know what the future will bring, the plot thickens, breasts the blows of circumstance, so runs round of life from hour to hour, sprinkled along the waste of years.

Chance

N chance, lot, fate, luck, good luck, mascot, speculation, venture, stake, game of chance, mere shot, random shot, blind bargain, leap in the dark, pig in a poke, fluke, potluck, faro bank, flyer, limit, uncertainty, uncertainty principle, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, drawing lots, sortilegy, sortition, sortes, sortes Virgilianae, rouge et noir, hazard, ante, chuck-a-luck, crack-loo, craps, faro, roulette, pitch and toss, chuck, farthing, cup tossing, heads or tails cross and pile, poker-dice, wager, bet, betting, gambling, the turf, gaming house, gambling house, betting house, bucket shop, gambling joint, totalizator, totalizer, hell, betting ring, dice, dice box, gambler, gamester, man of the turf, adventurer, dicer, fortuitous, unintentional, unintended, accidental, not meant, undesigned, purposed, unpremeditated, unforeseen, uncontemplated, never thought of, random, indiscriminate, promiscuous, undirected, aimless, driftless, designless, purposeless, causeless, without purpose, possible, unforeseeable, unpredictable, chancy, risky, speculative, dicey, randomly, by chance, fortuitously, unpredictably, unforeseeably, casually, unintentionally, unwittingly, en passant, by the way, incidentally, as it may happen, at random, at a venture, at haphazard, acierta errando, dextro tempore, fearful concatenation of circumstances, fortuitous combination of circumstances, le jeu est le fils d'avarice et le pere du desespo, the happy combination of fortuitous circumstances, the fortuitous or casual concourse of atoms, God does not play dice with the universe, chance, indetermination, accident, fortune, hazard, hap, haphazard, chance medley, random, luck, raccroc, casualty, contingence, adventure, hit, fate, equal chance, lottery, tombola, toss up, turn of the table, turn of the cards, hazard of the die, chapter of accidents, fickle finger of fate, cast of the dice, throw of the dice, heads or tails, flip of a coin, wheel of Fortune, sortes, sortes Virgilianae, probability, possibility, odds, long odds, run of luck, accidentalness, main chance, odds on, favorable odds, contingency, dependence (uncertainty), situation (circumstance), statistics, theory of Probabilities, theory of Chances, bookmaking, assurance, speculation, gaming, casual, fortuitous, accidental, adventitious, causeless, incidental, contingent, uncaused, undetermined, indeterminate, random, statistical, possible, unintentional, by chance, accidentally, by accident, casually, perchance, for aught one knows, as good would have it, as bad would have it, as luck would have it, as ill-luck would have it, as chance would have it, as it may be, as it may chance, as it may turn up, as it may happen, as the case may be, grasps the skirts of happy chance, the accident of an accident, There but for the grace of God go I.

Liability

N liability, liableness, possibility, contingency, susceptivity, susceptibility, exposure, liable, subject, in danger, open to, exposed to, obnoxious to, answerable, unexempt from, apt to, dependent on, incident to, contingent, incidental, possible, on the cards, within range of, at the mercy of.

Qualification

N qualification, limitation, modification, coloring, allowance, grains of allowance, consideration, extenuating circumstances, mitigation, condition, proviso, prerequisite, contingency, stipulation, provision, specification, sine qua non, catch, string, strings attached, exemption, exception, escape clause, salvo, saving clause, discount, restriction, fine print, qualifying, qualified, conditioned, restricted, hedged, conditional, exceptional, hypothetical, contingent, provided, provided that, provided always, if, unless, but, yet, according as, conditionally, admitting, supposing, on the supposition of, with the understanding, even, although, though, for all that, after all, at all events, approximately, in a limited degree (smallness), somewhat, sort of, something like that, to a certain extent, to a degree, in a sense, so to speak, with grains of allowance, cum grano salis, with a grain of salt, exceptis excipiendis, wind and weather permitting, if possible, subject to, conditioned upon, with this proviso, if the good lord is willing and the creeks don't r, catch-, Degrees of Evidence.

Possibility

N possibility, potentiality, what may be, what is possible, compatibility, practicability, feasibility, practicableness, contingency, chance, V, be possible, stand a chance, admit of, bear, render possible, put in the way of, Adj, possible, in the cards, on the dice, in posse, within the bounds of possibility, conceivable, credible, compatible, likely, practicable, feasible, performable, achievable, within reach, within measurable distance, accessible, superable, surmountable, attainable, obtainable, contingent barely possible, marginally possible, just possible, possible but improbably, (improbable), theoretically possible, Adv, possibly, by possibility, perhaps, perchance, peradventure, maybe, may be, haply, mayhap, if possible, wind and weather permitting, God willing, Deo volente, D, possible, in the cards, on the dice, in posse, within the bounds of possibility, conceivable, credible, compatible, likely, practicable, feasible, performable, achievable, within reach, within measurable distance, accessible, superable, surmountable, attainable, obtainable, contingent barely possible, marginally possible, just possible, possible but improbably, (improbable), theoretically possible, possibly, by possibility, perhaps, perchance, peradventure, maybe, may be, haply, mayhap, if possible, wind and weather permitting, God willing, Deo volente, D, V, as luck may have it, misericordia Domini inter pontem et fontent, the glories of the Possible are ours, anything is possible, in theory possible, but in practise unlikely.

Uncertainty

N uncertainty, incertitude, doubt, doubtfulness, dubiety, dubitation, dubitancy, dubitousness, hesitation, suspense, perplexity, embarrassment, dilemma, bewilderment, timidity, vacillation, diaporesis, indetermination, vagueness, haze, fog, obscurity, ambiguity, contingency, dependence, dependency, double contingency, possibility upon a possibility, open question, onus probandi, blind bargain, pig in a poke, leap in the dark, something or other, needle in a haystack, needle in a bottle of hay, roving commission, precariousness, fallibility, uncertain, casual, random, changeable, doubtful, dubious, indecisive, unsettled, undecided, undetermined, in suspense, open to discussion, controvertible, in question, vague, indeterminate, indefinite, ambiguous, equivocal, undefined, undefinable, confused, mystic, oracular, dazed, perplexing, enigmatic, paradoxical, apocryphal, problematical, hypothetical, experimental, unpredictable, unforeseeable (unknowable), fallible, questionable, precarious, slippery, ticklish, debatable, disputable, unreliable, untrustworthy, contingent, contingent on, dependent on, subject to, dependent on circumstances, occasional, provisional, unauthentic, unauthenticated, unauthoritative, unascertained, unconfirmed, undemonstrated, untold, uncounted, in a state of uncertainty, in a cloud, in a maze, bushed, off the track, ignorant, afraid to say, out of one's reckoning, astray, adrift, at sea, at fault, at a loss, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, puzzled, lost, abroad, d_esorient_e, distracted, distraught, pendente lite, sub spe rati, Heaven knows, who can tell? who shall decide when doctors disagr.