Possible future events that might happen but aren't certain; backup plans for situations that may or may not occur.
From Latin contingentia (a touching or happening), from contingere (to touch or befall). The meaning shifted from 'possibility' to 'something that might need handling' in modern English.
Emergency rooms and military units plan obsessively for contingencies—but research shows humans are actually terrible at imagining rare events, which is why we're often shocked by things labeled 'contingencies' in old plans.
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