expedient

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin expediens (stem expedient-), present participle of expedire (to bring forward, to dispatch, to expedite; impers. to be profitable, serviceable, advantageous, expedient), from ex (out) + pes

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (file)

Adjective[edit]

expedient (comparative more expedient, superlative most expedient)

  1. Simple, easy, or quick; convenient.
    Most people, faced with a decision, will choose the most expedient option.
  2. Governed by self-interest, often short-term self-interest.
    • 1861, John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism
      But the Expedient, in the sense in which it is opposed to the Right, generally means that which is expedient for the particular interest of the agent himself; as when a minister sacrifices the interests of his country to keep himself in place.

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

expedient (plural expedients)

  1. A method or means for achieving a particular result, especially when direct or efficient; a resource.
    • 1906, O. Henry, The Green Door
      He would never let her know that he was aware of the strange expedient to which she had been driven by her great distress.
    • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 709:
      Depressingly, [...] the expedient of importing African slaves was in part meant to protect the native American population from exploitation.

Translations[edit]

External links[edit]


Latin[edit]

Verb[edit]

expedient

  1. third-person plural future active indicative of expediō