expedience

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From Old French expedience, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Late Latin expedientia, from Latin expediens.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛk.spiː.dɪ.əns/

Noun

expedience (countable and uncountable, plural expediences)

1. (uncountable) The quality of being fit or suitable to cause some desired end or the purpose intended; propriety or advisability under the particular circumstances of a case.
   • Sharp

     to determine concerning the expedience of action

2. Speed, haste or urgency.
   • Shakespeare

     making hither with all due expedience

   • 2008, Thomas Dyja, Walter White: The Dilemma of Black Identity in America (page 178)

     The sense of expedience that allowed White to cut deals and keep moving had made many, mistakenly, see him as shallow or, worse, unprincipled.

3. Something that is expedient.
4. (obsolete) An expedition; enterprise; adventure.
   • Shakespeare

     forwarding this dear expedience

Synonyms

• (fitness or suitableness): expediency
• (speed, haste or urgency): expediency

Related terms

Category English terms derived from the Mala (New Guinea) root expedience- not found

Translations

quality of being fit or suitable to effect some desired end

• Bulgarian: удобство (bg) n (udobstvo), целесъобразност (bg) f (celesǎobraznost)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Dutch: toepasselijkheid f, passendheid f, gepastheid f

speed, haste or urgency

• Dutch: haast (nl) c, spoed (nl) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

something that is expedient

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

References

• OED2
• expediency in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
• “expedience”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “expedience”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “expedience”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.