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

France, Poland, the Nordic countries and Canada, which are now casting the contingency plan as a coalition-of-the-willing within NATO, according to officials involved.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday that "military assets" had been deployed to the Middle East as a contingency plan.

From Barron's • Mar. 5, 2026

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

From MarketWatch • Feb. 21, 2026

A surveillance aircraft that should have provided critical intelligence on the number of crossings never launched due to poor weather conditions - and there was no contingency plan, the inquiry found.

From BBC • Feb. 5, 2026

“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