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incumbent

in·cumb·ent/ɪnˈkʌmbənt/adjective, noun

incumbent is an adjective meaning “Chiefly followed by on or upon: leaning, or lying, reclining, or resting, on something else” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled I-N-C-U-M-B-E-N-T and has 3 syllables (in·cumb·ent), and it appears 5.9 times per million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).

What does incumbent mean?

adjective

  1. 1

    Chiefly followed by on or upon: leaning, or lying, reclining, or resting, on something else.

  2. 2

    Of an anther: lying on the inner side of the filament; also, of a cotyledon: having its back lying against the radicle.

  3. 3

    Of a body part such as a hair, spine, or wing: bent downwards or otherwise positioned so that it, or part of it, rests on or touches something else; specifically (ornithology), of the hind toe of a bird: fully resting on a support.

    the incumbent toe of a bird

  4. 4

    Being the current holder of an office or a title; specifically (Christianity, obsolete), of an ecclesiastical benefice.

    If the incumbent senator dies, he is replaced by a person appointed by the governor.

  5. 5

    Oppressive, pressuring.

  6. 6

    Followed by on or upon: imposed on one as an obligation, especially due to one's office or position.

    Proper behaviour is incumbent on all holders of positions of trust.

  7. 7

    Hanging or leaning over.

  8. 8

    obsoletePutting much effort into an activity or some work.

noun

  1. 1

    The current holder of an office or title; (specifically, Christianity) the holder of an ecclesiastical benefice.

  2. 2

    A holder of a position as supplier to a market or market segment that allows the holder to earn above-normal profits.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce incumbent?

  • UK /ɪnˈkʌmb(ə)nt/
  • UK /ɪŋ-/
  • US /ɪnˈkʌmbənt/

Incumbent has 3 syllables, split in·cumb·ent in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-incumbent.wav, En-us-incumbent.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of incumbent

  • more incumbent comparative
  • most incumbent superlative
  • incumbents plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is incumbent?

Incumbent appears 5.9 times per million words in written English, the 10,028th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Incumbent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanabstützend, aufliegend, liegend, ruhend (leaning, or lying, reclining, or resting, on…), amtierend (being the current holder of an office or a title), obliegend (imposed on one as an obligation, especially due…)
Frenchen titre, titulaire (being the current holder of an office or a title)
Portuguesetitular (being the current holder of an office or a title), incumbente (imposed on one as an obligation, especially due…)
Spanishen ejercicio, en funciones, de turno (being the current holder of an office or a title), competente, obligatorio (imposed on one as an obligation, especially due…), titular (current holder of an office or title; holder of…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does incumbent come from?

From Latin incumbentem + English -ent (suffix denoting the causing, doing, or promoting of an action). 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- (prefix meaning ‘against; into; on, upon’) + *cumbō (“to lie down, recline”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewb-).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).