Contingents

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group formed as part of a larger body, often sharing a common purpose or characteristic
2. a representative body or unit sent to fulfill a specific function
3. a subset of a larger entity that is dependent on certain conditions or factors

Etymology: The word "contingents" is the plural of "contingent," and the noun's most surprising trail runs through a verb meaning simply "to touch." In Latin, "contingere" combined "com-" ("together") with "tangere" ("to touch"), so its core sense was things meeting or coming into contact. From that physical root it grew to mean "to happen" or "to fall to someone's lot," and the adjective "contingens" came to mean "possible" or "dependent on circumstance," the sense of something that might or might not occur. English took the word through Old French, which gave it the adjective "contingent" meaning dependent on chance, and it reached English in Middle English. The noun sense of a share or portion, the idea of a group contributing to a larger whole, developed from that same base of meeting and joining together. Thus a "contingent" is literally a body of people that has come together as part of something bigger, and the plural names several such groups at once.

Synonyms: groups, delegations, batches, units, subsets