Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Imposed as an obligation or duty; obligatory.
- adjective Lying, leaning, or resting on something else.
- adjective Currently holding a specified office.
- noun A person who holds an office or ecclesiastical benefice.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In geology, resting upon: said of one series of strata which is supported by a subjacent one.
- Lying or resting on something.
- Specifically
- Lying, leaning, or resting lengthwise, in whole or in part, upon a surface to which there is only one point of actual attachment or none.
- Lying or resting as a duty or obligation; imposed, and pressing to performance.
- noun One who discharges stated functions; the holder of an office of any kind; especially, one who discharges ecclesiastical functions; one who holds a benefice.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A person who is in present possession of a benefice or of any office.
- adjective Lying; resting; reclining; recumbent; superimposed; superincumbent.
- adjective Lying, resting, or imposed, as a duty or obligation; obligatory; always with
on orupon . - adjective (Bot.) Leaning or resting; -- said of anthers when lying on the inner side of the filament, or of cotyledons when the radicle lies against the back of one of them.
- adjective (Zoöl.) Bent downwards so that the ends touch, or rest on, something else.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Imposed on someone as anobligation , especially due to one'soffice . - adjective geology
Resting on something else. - adjective Being the
current holder of an office or a title. - noun The current holder of an office, such as
ecclesiastical benefice or an elected office. - noun business A holder of a position as supplier to a market or market segment that allows the holder to earn above-normal profits.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the official who holds an office
- adjective currently holding an office
- adjective lying or leaning on something else
- adjective necessary (for someone) as a duty or responsibility; morally binding
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word incumbent.
Examples
-
Khosla went after what he called "incumbent capitalism," in which government policy and incentives are designed not to encourage competition and innovation, but to protect entrenched incumbent interests, with coal, oil, nuclear, and utility monopolies being the most spectacular beneficiaries of this bias against innovation.
Carl Pope: The End of Incumbent Capitalism? Carl Pope 2011
-
Khosla went after what he called "incumbent capitalism," in which government policy and incentives are designed not to encourage competition and innovation, but to protect entrenched incumbent interests, with coal, oil, nuclear, and utility monopolies being the most spectacular beneficiaries of this bias against innovation.
Carl Pope: The End of Incumbent Capitalism? Carl Pope 2011
-
Khosla went after what he called "incumbent capitalism," in which government policy and incentives are designed not to encourage competition and innovation, but to protect entrenched incumbent interests, with coal, oil, nuclear, and utility monopolies being the most spectacular beneficiaries of this bias against innovation.
Carl Pope: The End of Incumbent Capitalism? Carl Pope 2011
-
Khosla went after what he called "incumbent capitalism," in which government policy and incentives are designed not to encourage competition and innovation, but to protect entrenched incumbent interests, with coal, oil, nuclear, and utility monopolies being the most spectacular beneficiaries of this bias against innovation.
Carl Pope: The End of Incumbent Capitalism? Carl Pope 2011
-
They 're trying to, and sort of -- I was in the Eighth District, where Patrick Murphy, the incumbent, two-term incumbent, is facing off against Mike Fitzpatrick, a former congressman.
A Reformer Departs 2010
-
Khosla went after what he called "incumbent capitalism," in which government policy and incentives are designed not to encourage competition and innovation, but to protect entrenched incumbent interests, with coal, oil, nuclear, and utility monopolies being the most spectacular beneficiaries of this bias against innovation.
Carl Pope: The End of Incumbent Capitalism? Carl Pope 2011
-
If the incumbent is a Republican, then my anti-incumbent fever is very strong.
-
Ones encouragement of the electorate to be cross with the incumbent is the primary component and second is a posture designed to deflect existing disquiet about yourselves.
A Wee Fib Newmania 2007
-
Meanwhile, the other liberal group trying to defeat the incumbent is the Save the 48th PAC.
Sound Politics: Liberal PACs not yet investing much in Esser race 2006
-
You do that through what we call incumbent worker training.
unknown title 2009
jwjarvis commented on the word incumbent
It gave patients an opportunity once a year to compare notes on the medical records of both the challenger and incumbent.
September 14, 2010
jwjarvis commented on the word incumbent
salaries of job incumbents in his or her company
February 18, 2011