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Contingency vs Pinch - What's the difference?

contingency | pinch | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between contingency and pinch

is that contingency is the quality of being contingent, of happening by chance; unpredictability while pinch is the action of squeezing a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.

As a verb pinch is

to squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.

contingency

English

(wikipedia 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

    pinch

    English

    Verb

    (es)
  • To squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.
    • The children were scolded for pinching each other.
    This shoe pinches my foot.
  • To steal, usually of something almost trivial or inconsequential.
    • Someone has pinched my handkerchief!
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=May 13 , author=Alistair Magowan , title=Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Then, as the Sunderland fans' cheers bellowed around the stadium, United's title bid was over when it became apparent City had pinched a last-gasp winner to seal their first title in 44 years.}}
  • (slang) To arrest or capture.
  • (horticulture) To cut shoots]] or [[bud, buds of a plant in order to shape the plant, or to improve its yield.
  • (nautical) To sail so close-hauled that the sails begin to flutter.
  • (hunting) To take hold; to grip, as a dog does.
  • (obsolete) To be niggardly or covetous.
    • (Gower)
  • * Franklin
    • the wretch whom avarice bids to pinch and spare
  • To seize; to grip; to bite; said of animals.
  • * Chapman
    • He [the hound] pinched and pulled her down.
  • (figurative) To cramp; to straiten; to oppress; to starve.
    • to be pinched for money
  • * Sir Walter Raleigh
    • want of room pinching a whole nation
  • To move, as a railroad car, by prying the wheels with a pinch.

    • Noun

    (es)
  • The action of squeezing a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.
  • A small amount of powder or granules, such that the amount could be held between fingertip and thumb tip.
  • An awkward situation of some kind (especially money or social) which is difficult to escape.
  • * 1955 , edition, ISBN 0553249592, page 171:
    • It took nerve and muscle both to carry the body out and down the stairs to the lower hall, but he damn well had to get it out of his place and away from his door, and any of those four could have done it in a pinch', and it sure was a ' pinch .
  • An organic herbal smoke additive.

    • Derived terms

    * feel the pinch * in a pinch * at a pinch * pinchy * take with a pinch of salt

    Descendants

    * Japanese: (pinchi)