contingency plan

American  

noun

1. a course of action to be followed if a preferred plan fails or an existing situation changes.

2. a plan or procedure that will take effect if an emergency occurs; emergency plan.

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Example Sentences

You also need a contingency plan if something — God forbid — ever happened to your son and he predeceased you.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 21, 2026

The bank denied the Journal’s reporting in January that a top Goldman executive told a few close associates he was formulating a contingency plan in which Ruemmler would leave later this year.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 2026

But by the same token, sources have told BBC Sport that work towards a contingency plan in the event they make a decision they really don't want to make illustrates the precarity of Frank's position.

From BBC • Feb. 10, 2026

This was laid out in a contingency plan issued the day before the shutdown began.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 12, 2025

“Well, see, in the event—however unlikely—that your vaccine does not have the desired effect, and Othello there turns, I was wondering what your contingency plan is. Have you taken the vaccine yourself?”

From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland