What is the meaning of contributory negligence?

Contributory negligence is a rule of law that has been largely abolished in the U.S., as it deemed that a plaintiff who was even partially At Fault for the incident, due to his own negligence, could not recover any damages from the defendant, who supposedly caused the incident. Contributory negligence refers to some amount of negligence on the part of the plaintiff, without which the incident would not have occurred. To explore this concept, consider the following contributory negligence definition.