expedient
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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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]
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Audio (US) (file)
Adjective[edit]
expedient (comparative more expedient, superlative most expedient)
- Simple, easy, or quick; convenient.
- Most people, faced with a decision, will choose the most expedient option.
- 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.
- 1861, John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
simple, easy, or quick; convenient
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Noun[edit]
expedient (plural expedients)
- 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.
- 1906, O. Henry, The Green Door
Translations[edit]
a means for achieving an end
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External links[edit]
- expedient in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- expedient in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
Latin[edit]
Verb[edit]
expedient
- third-person plural future active indicative of expediō
