Definition of "contributory" [con•trib•u•to•ry]

• Of, relating to, or involving contribution. (adjective)
• Helping to bring about a result. (adjective)
• Subject to an impost or levy. (adjective)
• One that contributes. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "CASARES: However, Alex Sanchez, there is something in civil law called contributory negligence."
• "In addition, I think what is at stake here is the idea of contributory infringement."
• "But in the Sony case, the Supreme Court quite clearly saw that, in a world where technological developments made copying easier, the idea of contributory infringement in copyright could be used to suppress or control entire technologies that seemed, in the logic of 20/20 downside vision, to pose a threat to the copyright holder."