incumbent

²in·cum·bent

adj \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

1. <it is incumbent upon you to attend every staff meeting>
2. 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
3. … 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
4. … Mr. Lorry felt it incumbent on him to speak a word or two of reassurance. —Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 1859

Origin of INCUMBENT

(see ¹incumbent)

First Known Use: 1567

Related to INCUMBENT

Synonyms: compulsory, forced, imperative, mandatory, involuntary, necessary, nonelective, obligatory, peremptory, required

Antonyms: elective, optional, voluntary

Related Words: all-important, essential, indispensable, needed, requisite; insistent, persistent, pressing, urgent; demanded, enforced; coercive

Near Antonyms: chosen, discretionary; dispensable, unnecessary, unneeded, unwanted; inconsequential, insignificant, nonessential, unimportant

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