2 meanings
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1 —as in:
the incumbent governor
Definition
the person who currently holds an official position- She had to defeat an incumbent governor to win.
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
- 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
- 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
- Incumbents and front-runners obviously have more cash, but they only spend a lot of it when they stand a legitimate chance of losing; otherwise, why dip into a war chest that might be more useful later on, when a more formidable opponent appears?Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner -- Freakonomics
- Barbarians and urbanites, incumbents and rebels, masters and slaves — all forget their differences and make common cause.Margaret Atwood -- The Blind Assassin
incumbent = person who currently holds an official position
2 —as in:
incumbent upon her to
Definition
necessary (for someone) as a duty or responsibility- It's incumbent upon her to clean up the mess she created.
incumbent = necessary as a responsibility
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- It is incumbent on them to pay their own debts.
- But before doing so, there were a few words that he felt it incumbent upon him to say.George Orwell -- Animal Farm
- 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
incumbent = necessary as a responsibility
incumbent = required
Less commonly:
Much more rarely (and generally archaically) "incumbent" can also mean resting, leaning, or bent downward. For example:
- "two incumbent figures, gracefully leaning upon it"
- "the incumbent geological formation"
- "the incumbent load"
- "the bird's incumbent toe"