Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Expediency
{
, Ex-pe′di-ence
,Ex-pe′di-en-cy
, }Noun.
1.
The quality of being expedient or advantageous; fitness or suitableness to effect a purpose intended; adaptedness to self-interest; desirableness; advantage; advisability; – sometimes contradistinguished from
moral rectitude
or principle
. Divine wisdom discovers no
expediency
in vice. Cogan.
To determine concerning the
expedience
of action. Sharp.
Much declamation may be heard in the present day against
expediency
, as if it were not the proper object of a deliberative assembly, and as if it were only pursued by the unprincipled. Whately.
2.
Expedition; haste; dispatch.
[Obs.]
Making hither with all due
expedience
. Shakespeare
3.
An expedition; enterprise; adventure.
[Obs.]
Forwarding this dear
expedience
. Shakespeare
Definition 2024
expediency
expediency
English
Noun
expediency (countable and uncountable, plural expediencies)
- (uncountable) The quality of being fit or suitable to effect some desired end or the purpose intended; suitability for particular circumstance or situation.
- Cogan
- Divine wisdom discovers no expediency in vice.
- Whately
- Much declamation may be heard in the present day against expediency, as if it were not the proper object of a deliberative assembly, and as if it were only pursued by the unprincipled.
- Cogan
- (uncountable) Pursuit of the course of action that brings the desired effect even if it is unjust or unprincipled.
- (obsolete) Haste; dispatch.
- (countable) An expedient.
Synonyms
- (suitability for a circumstance): expedience
- (haste, dispatch): expedience
Translations
quality of being fit or suitable to effect some desired end
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Related terms
References
- OED2
- “expediency” in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
- expediency in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- expediency at OneLook Dictionary Search