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adj. 1. Liable but not certain to occur; possible: "All salaries are reckoned on contingent as well as on actual services" (Ralph Waldo Emerson). 2. Dependent on other conditions or circumstances; conditional: arms sales contingent on the approval of Congress. See Synonyms at dependent. 3. Happening by or subject to chance or accident; unpredictable: contingent developments that jeopardized the negotiations. See Synonyms at accidental. 4. Logic True only under certain conditions; not necessarily or universally true: a contingent proposition. n. 1. a. A group or detachment, as of troops or police, assigned to aid a larger force. b. A representative group that is selected from or part of a larger group. 2. An event or condition that is likely but not inevitable. [Middle English, from Latin contingēns, contingent-, present participle of contingere, to touch; see CONTACT.] con·tingent·ly adv. |
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