contingentlyadv.
/kənˈtɪndʒəntli/ In a contingent manner.† 4. Not under predetermined necessity; with freedom of will or liberty of action. Obsolete.
1. As a possibility that may or may not befall.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > possibility > [adverb]
welleOE
possiblyc1400
possiblea1425
contingentlyc1430
potentiallyc1450
perhapsa1535
as and when1565
conceivably1625
if you like1813
c1430 tr. Thomas à Kempis Imitation of Christ 104 Besy careyng of þinges þat are contingently to come.
1608 S. Hieron 2nd Pt. Def. Ministers Reasons 210 To prove that the devil could not foretell things contingently to come.
1803 T. R. Malthus Ess. Princ. Population (new ed.) iv. v. 523 The increase of vice which might contingently follow an attempt to inculcate the duty of moral restraint.
2. In certain contingencies or cases, under certain conditions.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > testing > attestation, witness, evidence > qualification > [adverb]
conditionlyc1380
conditionally1483
qualifiedly1598
sub modo1600
contingently1657
subject1722
eventually1746
in a sort of way1802
qualifyingly1829
1657 A. Cokayne Obstinate Lady iii. i. 29 Fal. Dost thou not think..that man happy who's free from..bondage of a woman? Cle. My Lord contingently.
1849 J. Ruskin Seven Lamps Archit. vii. 193 Feelings which it may be only contingently in our power to recover.
1885 Act 48 & 49 Victoria c. 25 §25 A liability contingently chargeable, though not actually charged, on the revenues of India.
3. Not of necessity, but as circumstances are.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > testing > attestation, witness, evidence > qualification > [adverb] > according to circumstances
contingently1588
1588 A. Fraunce Lawiers Logike i. x. f. 46v Necessarily in the first, contingently in the second.
1628 T. Spencer Art of Logick 157 Euery proposition doth signifie something to be, either necessarily, or contingently.
1869 J. Martineau Ess. Philos. & Theol. 2nd Ser. 153 Its propositions are true, not contingently..but necessarily.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > free will > [adverb] > with freedom of will
in one's free will?c1225
at a person's willc1300
abandonc1330
freely1340
wilfully1340
contingently1601
electively1636
facultatively1887
1601 A. Dent Plaine Mans Path-way to Heauen 313 He sinned voluntarily, and contingently.
1653 T. Whitfield Treat. Sinfull Men ix. 39 He determines that some things shal come to passe necessarily, other things freely and contingently.
a1680 J. Corbet Humble Endeavour (1683) i. xi. 8 Who can say..that God cannot Foreknow what a Creature, acting freely and contingently, will do?
1754 J. Edwards Careful Enq. Freedom of Will ii. ii. 40 Those Things which have a prior Ground and Reason of their particular Existence..don't happen contingently.
5. As it may happen, as chance will have it; accidentally.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > chance or causelessness > [adverb]
feringc1000
feringlya1300
by casec1300
chancefully1303
lotc1325
peradventurec1325
of chance1330
happilya1375
in hapa1375
upon hapsa1375
casuallyc1384
perchancec1387
chancely1389
by fortune1390
haplyc1390
by (also of) adventurea1393
percasea1393
adventurelyc1400
percase1402
accidently?a1425
adventurously1440
by (good, lucky, etc.) hap?a1450
accidentally1528
chanceably1559
bechance1569
chance1595
casual-wise1601
accidental1622
occasionally1622
fortuitouslya1652
contingently1668
by chance1669
chanceable1709
per-hazard1788
chance-wise1844
1668 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. T. Bartholin Anat. (new ed.) i. xxiii. 68 [These] happen by accident and contingently.
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Arithm. (1691) ii. 36 Commodities..whose value depends upon the Fashion; or which are contingently scarce and plentiful.
1695 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth 219 Out of even the highest Mountains, and indeed all other Parts of the Earth contingently and indifferently.
6. In dependence upon circumstances; dependently.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > effect, result, or consequence > [adverb] > contingently or dependently
dependently1646
contingently1655
1655 H. More App. to Antidote Atheism (1712) 193 But contingently and dependently of another.
1864 F. C. Bowen Treat. Logic ii. 33 The operations of the Thinking Faculty are also contingently modified by the coexistence of other powers and affections of the mind.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1893; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.c1430