incumbent
/ɪnˈkʌmbənt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.77 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Chiefly followed by on or upon: leaning, or lying, reclining, or resting, on something else.
adj
Chiefly followed by on or upon: leaning, or lying, reclining, or resting, on something else.
adj
Chiefly followed by on or upon: leaning, or lying, reclining, or resting, on something else.
adj
Being the current holder of an office or a title; specifically (Christianity, obsolete), of an ecclesiastical benefice.
adj
adj
Followed by on or upon: imposed on one as an obligation, especially due to one's office or position.
Example Sentences
- "[I]f the great Doore, be Arched, vvith ſome braue Head, cut in fine Stone or Marble for the Key of the Arch, and tvvo Incumbent Figures gracefully leaning vpon it, tovvards one another, as if they meant to conferre; I ſhould thinke this a ſufficient entertainement, for the firſt Reception, of any Iudicious Sight, […]"
- "[U]pon the tops of high Mountains, the Air vvhich bears againſt the reſtagnant Quick-ſilver, is leſs preſſ'd by the leſs ponderous incumbent Air; and conſequently is not able totally to hinder the deſcent of ſo tall and heavy a Cylinder of Quick-ſilver, as at the bottom of ſuch Mountains did but maintain an Æquilibrium vvith the incumbent Atmoſphere."
- "Then with expanded wings he ſtears his flight / Aloft, incumbent on the dusky Air / That felt unuſual weight, […]"
- "Here, as ’tis ſaid, the Rebel Giants lye, / And vvhen to move th’incumbent Load they try, / Aſcending Vapours on the Day prevail, / The Sun looks ſickly, and the Skie grovv pale."
- "And, rising from his incumbent posture, he sought to force the end of the weed [a cigar] between the teeth of the dog."
- "[T]he anther either looks inwards or outwards. When it is turned inwards, or is fixed to that side of the filament which looks towards the pistil or centre of the flower, the anther is incumbent or intorse, as in Magnolia and the Water-Lily. When turned outwards, or fixed to the outer side of the filament, it is extorse, as in the Tulip-tree."
Etymology
From Latin incumbentem + English -ent (suffix denoting the causing, doing, or promoting of an action). Incumbentem is the accusative singular of incumbēns (“reclining”), the present active participle of incumbō (“to lay upon, to lean or recline on; to fall upon, to press down on”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘against; into; on, upon’) + *cumbō (“to lie down, recline”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewb-).
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪnˈkʌmbənt/
- British English: /ɪnˈkʌmb(ə)nt/