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INCUMBENT
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The official who holds an office
Synonyms:
incumbent; officeholder
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("incumbent" is a kind of...):
holder (a person who holds something)
functionary; official (a worker who holds or is invested with an office)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "incumbent"):
office-bearer (the person who holds an office)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Currently holding an office
Example:
the incumbent governor
Classified under:
Similar:
current (occurring in or belonging to the present time)
Derivation:
incumbency (the office of an incumbent)
incumbency (the term during which some position is held)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Necessary (for someone) as a duty or responsibility; morally binding
Example:
it is incumbent on them to pay their own debts
Classified under:
Similar:
necessary (absolutely essential)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Lying or leaning on something else
Example:
an incumbent geological formation
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
superjacent (lying immediately above or on something else)
Domain category:
geology (a science that deals with the history of the earth as recorded in rocks)
Context examples:
“Well, sir,” cried Mr. Weston, “as I took Miss Taylor away, it is incumbent on me to supply her place, if I can; and I will step to Mrs. Goddard in a moment, if you wish it.”
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
For about three years I heard little of him; but on the decease of the incumbent of the living which had been designed for him, he applied to me again by letter for the presentation.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Very well—and for the next presentation to a living of that value—supposing the late incumbent to have been old and sickly, and likely to vacate it soon—he might have got I dare say—fourteen hundred pounds.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
To be sure I am distantly related to the Rochesters by the mother's side, or at least my husband was; he was a clergyman, incumbent of Hay—that little village yonder on the hill—and that church near the gates was his.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Elizabeth, feeling it incumbent on her to relieve him from so unpleasant a situation, now put herself forward to confirm his account, by mentioning her prior knowledge of it from Charlotte herself; and endeavoured to put a stop to the exclamations of her mother and sisters by the earnestness of her congratulations to Sir William, in which she was readily joined by Jane, and by making a variety of remarks on the happiness that might be expected from the match, the excellent character of Mr. Collins, and the convenient distance of Hunsford from London.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Marianne had retreated as much as possible out of sight, to conceal her distress; and Margaret, understanding some part, but not the whole of the case, thought it incumbent on her to be dignified, and therefore took a seat as far from him as she could, and maintained a strict silence.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
As to her younger daughters, she could not take upon her to say—she could not positively answer—but she did not know of any prepossession; her eldest daughter, she must just mention—she felt it incumbent on her to hint, was likely to be very soon engaged.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
It is a rectory, but a small one; the late incumbent, I believe, did not make more than 200 L per annum, and though it is certainly capable of improvement, I fear, not to such an amount as to afford him a very comfortable income.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
