exigency

[ek-si-juhn-see, ig-zij-uhn-]

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noun, plural ex·i·gen·cies.

exigent state or character; urgency.

Usually exigencies. the need, demand, or requirement intrinsic to a circumstance, condition, etc.: the exigencies of city life.

a case or situation that demands prompt action or remedy; emergency: He promised help in any exigency.

Also ex·i·gence.

Origin of exigency

From the Medieval Latin word exigentia, dating back to 1575–85. See exigent, -ency

Synonyms for exigency

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3. crisis, contingency, plight, strait; predicament, fix, pinch.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for exigency

vicissitude, contingency, requirement, dilemma, distress, juncture, want, pass, need, plight, crisis, fix, scrape, jam, crossroad, duress, hardship, emergency, pressure, necessity

Examples from the Web for exigency

Historical Examples of exigency

He could quiet the horses, but not a woman, in so vague an exigency.
Tiverton Tales
Alice Brown
His speaking was unequal, and always rose with the subject and the exigency.
Patrick Henry
Moses Coit Tyler
In this exigency the pirate desisted from his plan against the lady.
Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer
Cyrus Townsend Brady
But this exigency might arise again; indeed, most frequently did arise.
The Story of the Outlaw
Emerson Hough
Riley obeyed the call of the exigency; but Forsythe resisted.
The Wreck of the Titan
Morgan Robertson

British Dictionary definitions for exigency

exigency

exigence (ˈɛksɪdʒəns)

noun plural -gencies or -gences

the state of being exigent; urgency

(often plural) an urgent demand; pressing requirement

an emergency

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for exigency

1580s, from Middle French exigence, from Latin exigentia "urgency," from exigentem (nominative exigens), from exigere "to demand, require; drive out" (see exact (v.)). Related: Exigencies (1650s).