expediency
English
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Pronunciation
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.
- 1810, Thomas Cogan, An Ethical Treatise on the Passions and Affections of the Mind, p. 137:
- Imperfet governments […] may palliate crimes upon the plea of necessity or expediency; divine wisdom discovers no expediency in vice; […]
- 1828, Richard Whately, Elements of Rhetoric, part II, p. 214:
- 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.
- 1810, Thomas Cogan, An Ethical Treatise on the Passions and Affections of the Mind, p. 137:
- (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
Related terms
Translations
quality of being fit or suitable to effect some desired end
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References
- OED2
- expediency in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
- “expediency”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “expediency”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “expediency”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.