Is there a single word in English that means “as long as it is not contradicted/opposed by” or “as long as it is not in conflict with”? Examples: “I’ll be at dinner tonight, ______ something coming up at work” or “The results of this study will be public, ______ any other preceding confidentiality agreements”
I thought “notwithstanding” was this word, but reading the definition it appears to be almost the opposite of what I thought it was! That is, if I’m reading it correctly, notwithstanding means that even though there is something opposing it, the statement is true. I am looking for a word that means it is true as long as there isn’t something opposing it.
“I’ll be at dinner tonight, barring something coming up at work” or “The results of this study will be public, barring any other preceding confidentiality agreements”
A metaphorical use of “barring” is almost precisely what you want, and is commonly used in such circumstances. “X is true barring Y occurring” means “If Y occurs, X no longer holds, but unless Y occurs, X holds true.”
Reworking the phrasing to allow use of “unless” would also be a possibility.
Directly on target but not the right part of speech for your question is “presumptively” – its meaning is “We set X to be true on a burden-of-proof issue; the onus is on those who contend X to be false, to disprove it, not on those who hold X to be true, to prove it.” In a court of law, the presumption of innocence means that the prosecution must affirmatively prove the guilt of the accused; he is deemed innocent until proven guilty. The assertions of an individual regarding his or her own affairs are normally rpesumed true unless good reason is provided to doubt them. In your example, “The results of the study will presumably be made public, barring any confidentiality agreements coming into play.”
Unless works if you re-word the sentences slightly.
“I’ll be at dinner tonight, ______ something coming up at work”
“I’ll be at dinner tonight, unless something comes up at work”
“The results of this study will be public, ______ any other preceding confidentiality agreements”
“The results of this study will be public, *unless there are *preceding confidentiality agreements”
For what it’s worth, I like it only in particular contexts – if the sentence can be written to logically mean “in the absence of”, then “absent” is perfectly, uh, cromulent. But it needs to be either physical absence or something strongly metaphorically tied to the physical, or you end up with the equivalent of “The death rate formula was deemed viable.”
