exigency

English

Etymology

From Middle French exigence, from Late Latin exigentia (“urgency”) (from exigēns + -ia), from exigere (“to demand”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ĕkʹsĭjənsē IPA^(key): /ˈɛksɪd͡ʒənsi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɛɡzəd͡ʒənsi/, /ˈɛksəd͡ʒənsi/
• (Singapore) IPA^(key): /ɛ(k).si.d͡ʒɤn.si/

Noun

exigency (countable and uncountable, plural exigencies)

1. (chiefly in the plural) The demands or requirements of a situation.
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 226:

     My business is with you, and you only. You should not have undertaken your office, unless prepared for its various exigencies.

   • 1940 July, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 408:

     [...] but these details I am compelled by exigencies of space to hold over until next month.

2. An urgent situation, one requiring extreme effort or attention.

Synonyms

• exigence
• necessity
• urgency

Related terms

• exigent
• exigenter
• exiguity
• exiguous

Translations

demands or requirements of a situation

• German: Erfordernisse (de) f pl, Anforderungen (de) f pl
• Ukrainian: потреба (uk) f (potreba), вимога f (vymoha)

urgent situation

• German: Zwangslage (de) f, Notlage (de) f
• Russian: срочность (ru) f (sročnostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: hitnost (sh) f, hitnoća f, urgencija (sh) f

Further reading

• “exigency”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “exigency”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “exigency”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.