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expedient - 5 dictionary results
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ex⋅pe⋅di⋅ent

  [ik-spee-dee-uhnt]
Use expedient in a Sentence
–adjective
1. tending to promote some proposed or desired object; fit or suitable for the purpose; proper under the circumstances: It is expedient that you go.
2. conducive to advantage or interest, as opposed to right.
3. acting in accordance with expediency.
–noun
4. a means to an end: The ladder was a useful expedient for getting to the second floor.
5. a means devised or employed in an exigency; resource; shift: Use any expedients you think necessary to get over the obstacles in your way.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME < L expedient- (s. of expediēns), prp. of expedīre. See expedite, -ent

Related forms:
ex⋅pe⋅di⋅ent⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. advisable, appropriate, desirable; advantageous, profitable. 5. device, contrivance, resort.

Antonyms:
1. disadvantageous.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To expedient
ex·pe·di·ent   (ĭk-spē'dē-ənt)   
adj.  
  1. Appropriate to a purpose.
    1. Serving to promote one's interest: was merciful only when mercy was expedient.
    2. Based on or marked by a concern for self-interest rather than principle; self-interested.
  3. Obsolete Speedy; expeditious.
n.  
  1. Something that is a means to an end.
  2. Something contrived or used to meet an urgent need. See Synonyms at makeshift.

[Middle English, from Latin expediēns, expedient-, present participle of expedīre, to make ready; see expedite.]
ex·pe'di·ent·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Expedient

Ex*pe"di*ent\a. [L. expediens, -entis, p. pr. of expedire to be expedient, release, extricate: cf. F. exp['e]dient. See Expedite.]

1. Hastening or forward; hence, tending to further or promote a proposed object; fit or proper under the circumstances; conducive to self-interest; desirable; advisable; advantageous; -- sometimes contradistinguished from right.

It is expedient for you that I go away. --John xvi. 7.

Nothing but the right can ever be expedient, since that can never be true expediency which would sacrifice a greater good to a less. --Whately.

2. Quick; expeditious. [Obs.]

His marches are expedient to this town. --Shak.

Expedient

Ex*pe"di*ent\, n. 1. That which serves to promote or advance; suitable means to accomplish an end.

What sure expedient than shall Juno find, To calm her fears and ease her boding mind? --Philips.

2. Means devised in an exigency; shift.

Syn: Shift; contrivance; resource; substitute.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : expedient
Spanish: conveniente,
German: ratsam,
Japanese: 適切な
More Translations »

expedient 
1398, "advantageous, fit, proper" (adj.), from L. expedientem (nom. expediens) "beneficial," prp. of expedire "make fit or ready, prepare" (see expedite). The noun meaning "a device adopted in an exigency, a resource" is from 1653.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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