Pronunciation: (kun-tin'junt), [key]
1. dependent for existence, occurrence, character, etc., on something not yet certain; conditional (often fol. by on or upon): Our plans are contingent on the weather.
2. liable to happen or not; uncertain; possible: They had to plan for contingent expenses.
3. happening by chance or without known cause; fortuitous; accidental: contingent occurrences.
4. Logic.(of a proposition) neither logically necessary nor logically impossible, so that its truth or falsity can be established only by sensory observation.
1. a quota of troops furnished.
2. any one of the representative groups composing an assemblage: the New York contingent at a national convention.
3. the proportion that falls to one as a share to be contributed or furnished.
4. something contingent; contingency.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.