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Alternative vs Contingency - What's the difference?

alternative | contingency |

As nouns the difference between alternative and contingency

is that alternative is alternative while contingency is (uncountable) the quality of being contingent, of happening by chance; unpredictability.

alternative

Adjective

(-)
  • Relating to a choice between two or more possibilities
  • an alternative proposition
  • Not traditional, outside the mainstream, underground (e.g., alternative medicine, alternative lifestyle, (alternative rock)).
  • Other.
  • alternate; reciprocal
  • (Holland)

    Derived terms

    * alternative dispute resolution * alternative energy * alternative lifestyle * alternative medicine * alternative press * alternative vote

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A situation which allows a mutually exclusive choice between two or more possibilities; a choice between two or more possibilities.
  • * 1817 , (Walter Scott), Rob Roy , XI:
  • ‘The cloister or a betrothed husband?’ I echoed—‘Is that the alternative destined for Miss Vernon?’
  • One of several mutually exclusive things which can be chosen.
  • The remaining option; something available after other possibilities have been exhausted.
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    See also

    *

    References

    * * ----

    contingency

    Noun

  • (uncountable) The quality of being contingent, of happening by chance; unpredictability.
  • (countable) A possibility; something which may or may not happen. A chance occurrence, especially in finance, unexpected expenses.
  • (countable) An amount of money which a party to a contract has to pay to the other party (usually the supplier of a major project to the client) if he or she does not fulfill the contract according to the specification.
  • (logic, countable) A statement which is neither a tautology nor a contradiction.
  • Synonyms

    * (quality of happening by chance) possibility * See also

    Antonyms

    * (quality of happening by chance) inevitability, impossibility

    Coordinate terms

    * (statement which is neither a tautology nor a contradiction) contradiction, tautology

    Derived terms

    * contingency plan