Sample sentences for INCUMBENT

2 meanings

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1 —as in:
the incumbent governor

Definition

the person who currently holds an official position

incumbent = then holding office

Other Uses (with this meaning)

[Capitalism] easily degenerates into a system of the incumbents, by the incumbents for the incumbents.
Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales -- Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists
It is essential, in order to form a complete estimate of the advantages of official life, to view the incumbent at the in-coming of a hostile administration.
Nathaniel Hawthorne -- The Scarlet Letter

incumbent = person who currently holds an official position

Tom listened with some shame and some sorrow; but escaping as quickly as possible, could soon with cheerful selfishness reflect, firstly, that he had not been half so much in debt as some of his friends; secondly, that his father had made a most tiresome piece of work of it; and, thirdly, that the future incumbent, whoever he might be, would, in all probability, die very soon.
Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park

incumbent = person who currently holds an official position

Much and deservedly to my own discredit, therefore, and considerably to the detriment of my official conscience, they continued, during my incumbency, to creep about the wharves, and loiter up and down the Custom-House steps.
Nathaniel Hawthorne -- The Scarlet Letter

incumbency = term in an official position

Then, when once an incumbent of this post, he would marry Mademoiselle de Montalais.
Dumas, Alexandre -- Ten Years Later
As incumbent of that office, he stumbled up-stairs late at night, as his father had done before him.
Crane, Stephen -- Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
But incumbents generally have the upper hand, so no worries.
Ellen Hopkins -- Identical
When Faye came down from Sacramento and opened her house there was a flurry of animosity from the two incumbents.
John Steinbeck -- East of Eden
The whole were grouped in a manner that aped the streets of a city, and were evidently so arranged by the directions of one who looked to the wants of posterity rather than to the convenience of the present incumbents.
James Fenimore Cooper -- The Pioneers

2 —as in:
incumbent upon her to

Definition

necessary (for someone) as a duty or responsibility

incumbent = necessary as a responsibility

Other Uses (with this meaning)

incumbent = necessary as a responsibility

But before doing so, there were a few words that he felt it incumbent upon him to say.
George Orwell -- Animal Farm

incumbent = required

Lorry felt it incumbent on him to speak a word or two of reassurance.
Dickens, Charles -- A Tale Of Two Cities
Heyward felt it had now become incumbent on him to act.
Cooper, James Fenimore -- The Last of The Mohicans
He nodded gravely, and added with awful emphasis - "I thought it incumbent upon me to do so."
Bronte, Anne -- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Of course, while we drank our beer, which I had paid for, it was incumbent on him to listen to me and to talk to me.
London, Jack -- John Barleycorn
But it was incumbent upon her to go on now.
Hardy, Thomas -- Tess of the d'Urbervilles - A Pure Woman
There was a moment's pause, and then Archer felt it incumbent on him to say: "All right."
Wharton, Edith -- The Age of Innocence
She ought to cry; she felt it incumbent upon her.
London, Jack -- The Game

Less commonly:

Much more rarely (and generally archaically) "incumbent" can also mean resting, leaning, or bent downward. For example:

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