Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Contingency

Con·tin′gen·cy (kŏn·tĭn′jen·sy̆), n.; pl. Contingencies (#). [Cf. F. contingence.] 1. Union or connection; the state of touching or contact. "Point of contingency." J. Gregory.

2. The quality or state of being contingent or casual; the possibility of coming to pass.

Aristotle says we are not to build certain rules on the contingency of human actions. South.

3. An event which may or may not occur; that which is possible or probable; a fortuitous event; a chance.

The remarkable position of the queen rendering her death a most important contingency. Hallam.

4. An adjunct or accessory. Wordsworth.

5. (Law) A certain possible event that may or may not happen, by which, when happening, some particular title may be affected.

Syn. — Casualty; accident; chance.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.