Incumbent

How to spell incumbent

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce incumbent

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does incumbent mean?

1. nounThe current holder of a position, office, or political seat.
2. adjectiveResting on someone as a duty or obligation; currently holding office.

Incumbent in a sentence

• noun

  The incumbent won re-election by a narrow margin.

• adjective

  It is incumbent upon every manager to report safety breaches promptly.

• noun

  Voters tend to favour the incumbent during a stable economy.

• adjective

  The incumbent senator chaired the committee for another term.

Where does incumbent come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb incumbere, which literally meant 'to lie upon' or 'to lean on', formed from in- 'upon' and a verb related to cubare 'to lie down'. Its present participle stem, incumbent-, described something resting or pressing on something else. English adopted it in the 1400s, first in church use for the person who 'holds' a benefice or office, the one on whom the position rests. From the idea of a duty pressing down on someone came the adjective sense, 'imposed as an obligation', as in a task that is incumbent upon a person. The same Latin root for lying down survives in the relatives 'recumbent' (lying back) and 'succumb' (to lie under, to give way), which is a useful reminder that the silent-feeling middle of the word is the cluster cumb.

How the word is built

• in- (upon)
• cumb (from Latin cumbere: to lie or recline)
• -ent (adjective/noun suffix)