Skip to content
ARCHIEENGLISH
LearnPlayWordsRanking
  • Learn
  • Play
  • Words
  • Ranking
  • Mine
← Vocabulary

incumbency

UK/ɪŋˈkʌmbənsi/US/ɪŋˈkʌmbənsi/
nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — incumbent sits at #9,683Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: incumbencies

An incumbency is the period during which somebody holds an office. During his incumbency.

It is used of clergy and of politicians and carries no judgement either way. Incumbency is a real advantage in an election, since being known is half the battle.

Definitions of incumbency

  1. 1nounincumbencyThe period during which somebody holds an office.C2

    “Nothing was built during his entire incumbency.”

incumbency is a period.

Where it comes from

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *ḱewb-

  2. Latin

    incumbentem

  3. English

    incumbent

  4. English, today

    incumbency

Built from

  • incumbēns · Latin — reclining
  • incumbō · Latin — to lay upon, to lean or recline on; to fall upon, to press down on
  • *cumbō · Latin — to lie down, recline

From incumbent + -cy. incumbent comes from Latin incumbentem + -ent. Incumbentem is the accusative singular of incumbēns (“reclining”), the present active participle of incumbō (“to lay upon, to lean or recline on; to fall upon, to press down on”), from in- + cumbō (“to lie down, recline”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ḱewb-).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

incumbency in the wild

  • Anti-incumbency is sentiment in favor of voting out incumbent politicians, for the specific reason of being incumbent politicians.

    Anti-incumbency

  • Congressional stagnation is an American political theory that attempts to explain the high rate of incumbency re-election to the United States House of Representatives.

    Congressional stagnation in the United States

  • During Mayor Darvish Zadeh's incumbency, Tarbiyat St. was rebuilt as a pedestrian-only street.

    Tarbiat street

  • The strategy of assumed incumbency is based on a recognition of the value of incumbency in a political campaign.

    Assumed Incumbency

  • A high correlation between election and incumbency has been demonstrated in congressional races.

    Assumed Incumbency

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the incumbō family

incumbent

incumbency — used too rare to measure · point at the bar for the others