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.

Nearby words

Also ex·i·gence.

Origin of exigency

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

SYNONYMS FOR exigency

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

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

Examples from the Web for exigency

By this standard legislative bodies have been wont to judge the exigency of this mighty question.
History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III (of III)|Various
Thus has poor mortality been beaten and shapen on the anvils of compulsion and exigency.
Feminism and Sex-Extinction|Arabella Kenealy
Amongst the tales of Mr Poe are several papers which, we suppose, in the exigency of language, we must denominate philosophical.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, Number 385. November, 1847.|Various
It is a substance which we are ever in want of; it is therefore deposited on every side, and is ready for every exigency.
The Mosaic History of the Creation of the World|Thomas Wood

There is no exigency which should be allowed to overawe Congress in the performance of its constitutional duties.
A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention|Lucius Eugene Chittenden

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

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).