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expedient

[ ik-spee-dee-uhnt ]
/ ɪkˈspi di ənt /
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See synonyms for: expedient / expediently on Thesaurus.com
adjective
tending to promote some proposed or desired object; fit or suitable for the purpose; proper under the circumstances: It is expedient that you go.
conducive to advantage or interest, as opposed to right.
acting in accordance with expediency, or what is advantageous.
noun
a means to an end: The ladder was a useful expedient for getting to the second floor.
a means devised or employed in an exigency; resource; shift: Use any expedients you think necessary to get over the obstacles in your way.
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Origin of expedient

1350–1400; Middle English <Latin expedient- (stem of expediēns), present participle of expedīre.See expedite, -ent

OTHER WORDS FROM expedient

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

Words related to expedient

ad hoc, advantageous, desirable, feasible, judicious, opportune, practicable, practical, pragmatic, prudent, stratagem, fit, meet, possible, utilitarian, wise, contrivance, device, instrument, instrumentality

How to use expedient in a sentence

  • It was impossible not to question the stereotype to which she had been expediently reduced: the white woman from Kansas.

    This Week's Best Reads|The Daily Beast|April 23, 2011|DAILY BEAST

  • To this he would answer that expediently considered no husband could be better than the one he had chosen her.

    The Sea-Hawk|Raphael Sabatini

  • Having rightly and mercifully threatened to take it, it not only rightly may take it, but expediently must.

    The Shadow On The Dial, and Other Essays|Ambrose Bierce

British Dictionary definitions for expedient

expedient
/ (ɪkˈspiːdɪənt) /
adjective
suitable to the circumstances; appropriate
inclined towards methods or means that are advantageous rather than fair or just
noun Also: expediency
something suitable or appropriate, esp something used during an urgent situation

Derived forms of expedient

expediently, adverb

Word Origin for expedient

C14: from Latin expediēns setting free; see expedite
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
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