INCUMBENT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Incumbent

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/ɪnkˈəmbənt/ Listen

noun

Incumbent n. A person who is in present possession of a benefice or of any office. "The incumbent lieth at the mercy of his patron."

adjective

Incumbent adj.

Lying; resting; reclining; recumbent; superimposed; superincumbent. "Two incumbent figures, gracefully leaning upon it." "To move the incumbent load they try."

Lying, resting, or imposed, as a duty or obligation; obligatory; always with on or upon. "All men, truly zealous, will perform those good works that are incumbent on all Christians."

(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.

(Zool.) Bent downwards so that the ends touch, or rest on, something else; as, the incumbent toe of a bird.

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Etymology of 'Incumbent'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Incumbent" Quotes from Famous Books

... deliberated the shopman displayed his wares, and felt it incumbent upon him to entertain ...

— The Horse-Stealers and Other Stories • Anton Chekhov

... am my own secretary, and have no reason for displacing the present incumbent. The library will suit you better ...

— The Bread-winners - A Social Study • John Hay

... all bad. He has a code, loose as it is, and acts up to it. It is real pain to him to be backward with a debt of honour (though I write it, how foolish the expression: as if all debts were not equally incumbent), but any tradesman may wait for years. He does not lie, except to save a woman's reputation (query—Is it then justifiable? I really don't know), but he exaggerates fearfully. Animal courage he has, but nothing of the moral attribute. Except as regards his egotism, personal and national, ...

— The Truth About America • Edward Money

... a remote period there have been two Kokuzo in theory, although but one incumbent. Two branches of the same family claim ancestral right to the office,—the rival houses of Senke and Kitajima. The government has decided always in favour of the former; but the head of the Kitajima family has usually ...

— Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan - First Series • Lafcadio Hearn

... Our incumbent was more attentive to his duties, or rather recognised more duties, than his predecessor. He preached on the subject, and formed classes, sixteen being then the limit of age,—since the idea of the vow, having become far more prominent than that of the blessing, it was held that full development ...

— Chantry House • Charlotte M. Yonge

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