incumbent
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About Our Definitions: All forms of a word (noun, verb, etc.) are now displayed on one page.1in·cum·bent
noun \in-ˈkəm-bənt\Definition of INCUMBENT
1
: the holder of an office or ecclesiastical benefice
2
: one that occupies a particular position or place
See Examples of INCUMBENT
- Voters will have the chance to see the incumbent and her opponent in a series of three debates.
- Incumbents often have an advantage in elections.
- Because the statehouse now determines voting districts, the current map generally ensures that incumbents face minimal challenges to re-election. —Terry McCarthy, Time, 20 Dec. 2004
- When Reagan and Clinton were seeking re-election, they didn't go after their opponents directly, in part because they didn't have to. Those incumbents knew that there's a point at which strong and tough can look weak and desperate. —Jonathan Alter, Newsweek, 9 Aug. 2004
- Jane Austen was born into the downwardly mobile branch of an upper-middle-class family. … None of the Austen children could inherit the family home from their father, a Church of England clergyman; after his death it would go to the next incumbent. —Kevin Barry, New York Times Book Review, 7 Dec. 1997
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Origin of INCUMBENT
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin incumbent-, incumbens, present participle of incumbere to lie down on, from in- + -cumbere to lie down; akin to cubare to lie
First Known Use: 15th century
Other Government and Politics Terms
Rhymes with INCUMBENT
2in·cum·bent
adjective \in-ˈkəm-bənt\Definition of INCUMBENT
1
: imposed as a duty : obligatory <incumbent on us to take action>
2
: having the status of an incumbent (see 1incumbent) <the team's incumbent third baseman>; especially : occupying a specified office <the incumbent mayor>
3
: lying or resting on something else
4
: bent over so as to rest on or touch an underlying surface
Examples of INCUMBENT
- <it is incumbent upon you to attend every staff meeting>
- It is incumbent upon the press to act not in its own best interests, but in society's best interests. —Carll Tucker, Saturday Review, 23 June 1979
- … the various types of obligation incumbent on the members of the profession. —R. M. MacIver, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, January 1955
- … Mr. Lorry felt it incumbent on him to speak a word or two of reassurance. —Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 1859
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Origin of INCUMBENT
(see 1incumbent)
First Known Use: 1567
Related to INCUMBENT
- Synonyms
- compulsory, forced, imperative, mandatory, involuntary, necessary, nonelective, obligatory, peremptory, required
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