expedient
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪkˈspiːdi.ənt/
Forms: form: more expedient
form: most expedient
Etymology: From Middle English expedient, from Old French expedient, 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”) + pēs (“foot, hoof”).
Senses: examples: text: Most people, faced with a decision, will choose the most expedient option.
text: Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter willnot come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 16:7:
text: Nothing but the right can ever be the expedient, since that can never be true expediency which would sacrifice a greater good to a less.
ref: a. 1863, Richard Whately, Thoughts and Apophthegms:
glosses: Suitable to effect some desired end or the purpose intended.
examples: text: [T]he judges were unanimously of opinion that [...] by the common law of England, no man, not authorised by the crown, had a right to publish political news. While the Whig party was still formidable, the government thought it expedient occasionally to connive at the violation of this rule.
ref: 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 389:
text: That's because the debate pits textbook economics — which argues that bailouts beget bad behavior begets more bailouts — against practical politics. And politics, or the taking of expedient steps to keep people happy, will almost always win.
ref: 2009, CQ Weekly, volume 67, numbers 31-36, page 2190:
text: Government has slowly but positively moved from an active course of following plans and policies to the easier and more expedient course of the counterpuncher.
ref: 2011, L. Fletcher Prouty, Jesse Ventura, The Secret Team: The CIA and Its Allies in Control of the United States and the World:
text: Its policies toward foreign lab or across these eras reflect these sharp differences in context, but also reflect a common pattern to treat the recruitment and deployment of foreign nationals as an expedient measure to serve immediate economic objectives
ref: 2013, Douglas B. Klusmeyer, Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Immigration Policy in the Federal Republic of Germany:
glosses: Affording short-term benefit, often at the expense of the long-term.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1861, John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism:
glosses: Governed by self-interest, often short-term self-interest.
examples: text: the adverse winds / Whose leisure I have stay'd, have given him time / To land his legions all as soon as I; / His marches are expedient to this town / His forces strong, his soldiers confident.
ref: c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], lines 57–61:
glosses: Expeditious, quick, rapid.
Synonyms: advisable
desirable
judicious
politic
prudent
tactical
wise
Derived terms: expediently
inexpedient
unexpedient
Related terms: expede
expedience
expediency
expedite
expedition