contingency

Etymology

Most dictionaries take it as borrowed from Late Latin contingentia (“possibility”), in its medieval sense of circumstance,^[2][3][4][5] with the later form of the suffix -ency;^[5] Merriam-Webster also allows contingence as the source.^[4] Etymonline, Klein and Dictionary.com instead treat it as formed from English contingent + -cy.^[6][7][8] The Latin noun is from contingēns, the present participle of contingō (“to touch on all sides, to happen”).^[4][6] It is related to contact, contiguous and contagion.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In philosophy, freedom from predetermining necessity, the condition of being open to chance or free will: 1561, in the Scottish Confession of Faith.^[5][2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

The word began in philosophy and theology, for the possibility that what happens might not have happened.^[6][3][2] In the early 17th century it moved to concrete events: an accident or chance occurrence (1620),^[5][6] an event considered as possible in the future (before 1626, in Bacon), and an uncertain event on which other things depend (1646).^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as the quality of being fortuitous, an accidental possibility.^[10] A separate group of senses, now rare, kept the Latin idea of touching: contact (17th century) and close connection or affinity (1612), which survives in Scots law for a connection between processes.^[5][2] Modern use centres on possible future events that one prepares for, as in contingency plan and contingency fund.^[11][2]

Timeline

• 1561 – the condition of being free from necessity, open to chance or free will.^[5][4]
• 1612 – close connection or affinity.^[5]
• 1620 – a chance occurrence, an accident.^[5][6]
• 1623 – chance, fortuitousness.^[5]
• before 1626 – an event that may happen in the future.^[5]
• 1635 – uncertainty of occurrence.^[5]
• 1646 – an uncertain event on which other things depend.^[5]
• 1818 – a thing dependent on an uncertain event.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A possible future event or circumstance, especially one that is not very likely or cannot be predicted; an eventuality; often as a modifier: a contingency plan for a power cut.^[11][4][12]
2. Something that depends on an uncertain future event.^[11][2][5]
3. Something incidental to something else, such as an unforeseen extra expense.^[11][2]
4. The condition of being dependent on chance; uncertainty; in philosophy, the condition of not being necessary.^[2][12][5]
5. Close connection or affinity, especially in Scots law between legal processes.^[5][2]

Related words

• contingency plan
• contingency table
• contingent
• contingence
• contact
• contiguous
• contagion

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West