I. -nt adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French or Latin; Middle French expedient, from Latin expedient-, expediens, present participle of expedire to be advantageous, set free, make ready, from ex- ex- (I) + -pedire (from ped-, pes foot) — more at foot
1. : characterized by suitability, practicality, and efficiency in achieving a particular end : fit, proper, or advantageous under the circumstances
the harvest had been bad, and it was found expedient , for their better provision, to disperse the troops over a broader area — J.A.Froude
it is not necessary, and probably not even expedient , to pilfer the secret files of the foreign office — H.J.Morgenthau
2. obsolete : expeditious
I will with all expedient duty see you — Shakespeare
3. : characterized by concern with the opportune or temporarily advantageous as distinguished from the just or right ; specifically : governed by self-interest
morality, for the state, means doing what is expedient — H.S.Agar
Synonyms:
politic , advisable : expedient applies to what is advantageous and opportune under the immediate circumstances in question, often without much regard to ethics
so long as the Stuarts were ruling at St. James's, speculative theocrats found it expedient to gloss their principles with nice distinctions between temporal and spiritual overlords — V.L.Parrington
purely for expedient reasons he let the Iroquois alone — Hervey Allen
politic may apply to what is judicious and wise according to the practicalities of the situation
before he faced the head of the Osborne house with the news which it was his duty to tell, Dobbin bethought him that it would be politic to make friends of the rest of the family, and, if possible, have the ladies on his side — W.M.Thackeray
the alacrity with which the German intellectual world submitted to Hitler is proof that, if it knew nothing of politics, it as least knew how to be politic — Martin Greenberg
advisable describes what is practical, prudent, and advantageous and lacks the occasionally derogatory implications of expedient and politic
in the circumstances, Superintendent, it seems to me advisable to adjourn the inquest until you have completed your investigations — Dorothy Sayers
I do not say that either psychology or medicine or penology has yet arrived at such a stage as to make a revolution in our system of punishment advisable — B.N.Cardozo
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: French expédient, from Middle French expedient, from expedient, adjective
1. : something that is expedient : a means to an end
rules of thumb generally … are a lazy man's expedient for ridding himself of the trouble of thinking and deciding — B.N.Cardozo
2. : a means devised or used in an exigency : makeshift
through so much traveling I had had to learn all sorts of expedients and prepare for all sorts of emergencies — V.G.Heiser
Synonyms: see resource