expediency
Americannoun
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expediencies
plural
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the quality of being expedient; advantageousness; advisability.
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a regard for what is politic or advantageous rather than for what is right or just; a sense of self-interest.
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something expedient.
noun
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appropriateness; suitability
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the use of or inclination towards methods that are advantageous rather than fair or just
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another word for expedient
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of expediency
From the Late Latin word expedientia, dating back to 1605–15. See expedient, -ency
Explanation
Expediency gets you what you want. While its tone can be neutral, expediency often suggests self-interest, possibly at the expense of doing what's right. Expediency comes from the word expedient, which derived from the Latin expedientem, meaning "beneficial." The negative aspect of the word came about in the 18th Century, taking on the aspect of doing something in the most convenient and advantageous manner, even though that way might be against conventional ethics. As W. Somerset Maugham once wrote, “The most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency.”
Vocabulary lists containing expediency
Trumps
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The Call of the Wild
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The Shakespeare Stealer
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Whenever we start locking folks up — whether it’s in mental wards or immigration detention centers or jails — we should be careful that expediency isn’t trumping ethics.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2026
Critics said the move stripped the office of much of its authority, particularly to enforce responsible AI standards, in favor of expediency.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
Apple is pacing itself, putting user experience and privacy above expediency.
From Barron's ● Dec. 5, 2025
Be it political expediency or a genuine change of heart, both have since revised their opinions.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2025
In the Icefall, though, expediency dictated that each of us climb independently, without being physically connected to one another in any way.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
And in our contacts with Mexican people we had been faced with a change in expediencies.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 1, 2020
The film examine three discrete chapters in Jobs' life, and some believed that, whatever narrative expediencies it provided, that structure could be a liability.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2015
It criminalizes routine online behaviors and expediencies, like sharing passwords or violating a site’s terms of service.
From Slate ● Apr. 24, 2015
Mr. Murswiek criticized the central bank for viewing “economic expediencies as the only thing worth caring about.”
From New York Times ● Oct. 13, 2014
Later in the day Prime brought the talk around by degrees to the expediencies.
From Stranded in Arcady by Francis Lynde
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
