释义 |
contingency /kənˈtɪndʒ(ə)nsi /noun (plural contingencies)1A future event or circumstance which is possible but cannot be predicted with certainty: a detailed contract which attempts to provide for all possible contingencies...- Christmas is looming ever closer, and this morning on the radio warnings were going out to holiday campers, to have a contingency for possible evacuations, in the event of fire.
- Furthermore, you know that the expected lifetime of the product is uncertain and depends upon future contingencies, including your own way of life, your heartbeat.
- Did the Bali tragedy and its impact on the hospital and the unit and so on, sort of set up a framework for future contingencies?
Synonyms eventuality, (chance) event, incident, happening, occurrence, juncture, possibility, accident, chance, emergency; uncertainty rare fortuity 1.1A provision for a possible event or circumstance: stores were kept as a contingency against a blockade...- The Chinese government only has strategic oil reserve contingencies of 50 million barrels of oil - just 25 days supply.
- There had been no provision for contingencies and it was assumed that design fees and site works were in the original library estimates.
- And we're all actively planning contingencies right now and preparing for if this storm even brushes close to New Orleans.
1.2An incidental expense: allow an extra fifteen per cent on the budget for contingencies...- This problem could be largely solved with emergency funds from the federal budget - a contingency provided for by the architects of the policy.
- Running an Internet cafe at his native place with two like-minded youngsters, Thamby has his own funds for meeting contingency expenses.
- We recommended this be done through balanced budgets and the application of any unused contingencies to the debt.
1.3 [mass noun] The absence of certainty in events: the island’s public affairs can occasionally be seen to be invaded by contingency...- The other is indignation at some historians' recourse to contingency and the counterfactual to unsettle old certainties.
- This hypothesis is also consistent with evidence that suggests that individuals use their knowledge to guide the selection of events to be used in the computation of contingency.
- The event was briefed, and every contingency was mapped out.
1.4 [mass noun] Philosophy The absence of necessity; the fact of being so without having to be so.This may provide a way beyond the generalised extremes of homogeneity and heterogeneity in analysing the necessity and contingency in organisational forms of capital....- But since contingency and necessity cannot coincide, the moving body has to be different from the principle or source of motion.
- If biology is ruled by contingency rather than necessity then why do we find duplicated designs?
OriginMid 16th century (in the philosophical sense): from late Latin contingentia (in its medieval Latin sense 'circumstance'), from contingere 'befall' (see contingent). Rhymesastringency, stringency |