incumbent

[KatyBr]

Wilma was describing her frustrations of trying to communicate with her mother to her husband. "When she starts telling me things are impossible," Wilma was saying, "or that she just can't do something, sure I can go on and on telling her that there are solutions to the problem, but I don't feel it's incumbent on me to force her to live a good life."

in·cum·bent (n-kmbnt)
adj.
1. Imposed as an obligation or duty; obligatory: felt it was incumbent on us all to help.
2. Lying, leaning, or resting on something else: incumbent rock strata.
3. Currently holding a specified office: the incumbent mayor.
n.
A person who holds an office or ecclesiastical benefice: The incumbent was reelected to another term.



[Middle English, holder of an office, from Medieval Latin incumbns, incumbent-, from Latin, present participle of incumbere, to lean upon, apply oneself to : in-, on; see in-2 + -cumbere, to recline.]



in·cumbent·ly adv.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words AntonymsNoun 1. incumbent - the official who holds an office
officeholder
office-bearer - the person who holds an office
functionary, official - a worker who holds or is invested with an office
Adj. 1. incumbent - lying or leaning on something else; "an incumbent geological formation"
geology - a science that deals with the history of the earth as recorded in rocks
superjacent - lying immediately above or on something else
2. incumbent - currently holding an office; "the incumbent governor"
current - occurring in or belonging to the present time; "current events"; "the current topic"; "current negotiations"; "current psychoanalytic theories"; "the ship's current position"
www.thefreedictionary.com

Again, not the usual usage for incumbent it is a valid usage and needs to be used more often. (JMO)


Kt

[Slava]

I feel that it is incumbent upon me to re-suggest this word, especially as it is an election year. We need to remind the incumbents that it is incumbent upon them to serve the people, not themselves.