contingency

English

Etymology

From contingent +‎ -cy (16th century).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈtɪnd͡ʒənsi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

contingency (countable and uncountable, plural contingencies)

1. (uncountable) The quality of being contingent, of happening by chance. [from 1560s]

   Synonyms: possibility, unpredictability; see also Thesaurus:option

   Antonyms: inevitability, impossibility

2. (countable) A possibility; something which may or may not happen. A chance occurrence, especially in finance, unexpected expenses. [from 1610s]
   • 1909, John Claude White, Sikhim and Bhutan, page 29:

     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.

   • 2011 April 30, United States Strategic Command, CONPLAN 8888-11 "COUNTER-ZOMBIE DOMINANCE"‎^[1] (PDF), archived from the original on 15 March 2023, SITUATION:

     In light of the inherent survival threat posed by zombies and absent specified guidance for detailed planning to address such a contingency, USSTRATCOM has taken the initiative to develop a JOPES Level 3 plan (CONPLAN) consistent with guidance derived from other specified planning efforts to ensure U.S. and Allied freedom of action from zombie domination.

3. (finance, countable) 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 he or she does not fulfill the contract according to the specification.
5. (logic, countable) A statement which is neither a tautology nor a contradiction.

   Coordinate terms: contradiction, tautology

Derived terms

• contingency cost
• contingency plan
• contingency table
• noncontingency

 

Translations

quality of being contingent; unpredictability

• Bulgarian: непредвидимост f (nepredvidimost)
• Dutch: contingentie (nl) f, onvoorspelbaarheid (nl) f
• Finnish: epävarmuus (fi), ennustamattomuus
• French: contingence (fr) f, éventualité (fr) f
• German: Kontingenz (de) f, Eventualität (de), Zufall (de)
• Hungarian: esetlegesség (hu)
• Italian: contingenza (it) f
• Japanese: 偶然 (ja) (gūzen), 偶然性 (gūzensei)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ھەڵکەوتووی (hellkewtûy)

• Portuguese: contingência (pt) f
• Russian: непредви́димость f (nepredvídimostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: kontingentnost
• Spanish: contingencia (es) f, eventualidad (es) f
• Swedish: oförutsägbarhet (sv) c

possibility; something which may or may not happen

• Dutch: contingentie (nl) f
• Finnish: mahdollinen tapahtuma, kontingenssi
• German: Eventualität (de) f, mögliches Ereignis n
• Greek: ενδεχόμενο (el) n (endechómeno)
• Hungarian: eshetőség (hu)
• Italian: imprevisto (it) m, casualità (it) f, eventualità (it) f
• Japanese: 偶然 (ja) (gūzen), 偶然性 (gūzensei)
• Plautdietsch: Väarot m
• Portuguese: contingência (pt) f
• Russian: случа́йность (ru) f (slučájnostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: kontingencija (sh)
• Spanish: contingencia (es) f, eventualidad (es) f, imprevisto (es) m
• Swedish: oförutsedd händelse c, tillfällighet (sv) c, eventualitet (sv) c, sammanträffande (sv) n

amount of money that will be paid if a project does not succeed

• Finnish: sopimussakko (fi)
• German: Entschädigung (de) f
• Italian: indennizzo (it) m, penale (it) f
• Japanese: 成功報酬 (seikō-hōshū)

a statement which is neither a tautology nor a contradiction

• Finnish: kontingenssi