Expedient
adjective
Useful and suitable in a particular situation, usually to achieve a goal but not necessarily the best or moral choice.
Some may find it expedient to avoid the topic in order to prevent conflict.
Usage tips
Formal
noun
Something that is expedient, especially when it helps to achieve a desired result without considering if it's right, fair, or just.
Fudging the data might seem like an expedient solution, but it won't solve our long-term problems.
Usage tips
Formal
Academic
adjective
Useful and suitable in a particular situation, usually to achieve a goal but not necessarily the best or moral choice.
Some may find it expedient to avoid the topic in order to prevent conflict.
Usage tips
Formal
noun
Something that is expedient, especially when it helps to achieve a desired result without considering if it's right, fair, or just.
Fudging the data might seem like an expedient solution, but it won't solve our long-term problems.
Usage tips
Formal
Academic
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Practical Choice
Refers to choosing the most practical way to achieve a goal, not necessarily the most ethical.
They chose the most expedient route to finish the project on time.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Nuance
It can have a slightly negative connotation suggesting a compromise on values or quality.
He found an expedient solution, though it wasn't completely honest.
Pro Tip 3/3Immediate Benefit
Often implies a quick solution for immediate benefit, not focusing on long-term impacts.
She took the expedient action of ignoring the error to meet the deadline.
Pro Tip 1/3Practical Choice
Refers to choosing the most practical way to achieve a goal, not necessarily the most ethical.
They chose the most expedient route to finish the project on time.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Nuance
It can have a slightly negative connotation suggesting a compromise on values or quality.
He found an expedient solution, though it wasn't completely honest.
Pro Tip 3/3Immediate Benefit
Often implies a quick solution for immediate benefit, not focusing on long-term impacts.
She took the expedient action of ignoring the error to meet the deadline.
Pro Tip 1/3Practical Choice
Refers to choosing the most practical way to achieve a goal, not necessarily the most ethical.
They chose the most expedient route to finish the project on time.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Nuance
It can have a slightly negative connotation suggesting a compromise on values or quality.
He found an expedient solution, though it wasn't completely honest.
Pro Tip 3/3Immediate Benefit
Often implies a quick solution for immediate benefit, not focusing on long-term impacts.
She took the expedient action of ignoring the error to meet the deadline.
Compare with
advantageousappropriatorbeneficialconvenientefficientpracticalpragmaticsuitableuseful
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Video examples
Everyone Cheats A Little...
cheating well why were they cheating well because there's tremendous pressure on these teachers to produce high test scores so that their schools wouldn't get into trouble first of all it's it's very expedient to go to the end of the test good at the end of the test a lot of kids have left things blank so instead of having to raise something fill it back in you can
Video examples
Leyla Acaroglu: Paper...
so if we're going to keep this kind of expedient mobile phone replacing, then we should be looking at closing the loop on these systems. The people who produce these phones, and some of which I'm sure are in the room right now, could potentially look at doing what we call closed-loop systems, or product system services, so identifying that there is a market demand
Video examples
Africa’s rhyming history...
certainly a move expedient but his face does seem genuine as it comes through in those letters he wanted literacy and he sent young men to be educated in Portugal one of these was his son baptized Henrique who studied in Lisbon in Rome and in 1518 was consecrated by
Video examples
How coffee got quicker PIPE...
Bovee leaves behind a more expedient cup of joe. Out west, folks are still buying their coffee beans green, roasting the beans at home, then grinding them with a hand crank, all before actually brewing them.
Video examples
Everyone Cheats A Little...
cheating well why were they cheating well because there's tremendous pressure on these teachers to produce high test scores so that their schools wouldn't get into trouble first of all it's it's very expedient to go to the end of the test good at the end of the test a lot of kids have left things blank so instead of having to raise something fill it back in you can
Video examples
Leyla Acaroglu: Paper...
so if we're going to keep this kind of expedient mobile phone replacing, then we should be looking at closing the loop on these systems. The people who produce these phones, and some of which I'm sure are in the room right now, could potentially look at doing what we call closed-loop systems, or product system services, so identifying that there is a market demand
Video examples
Africa’s rhyming history...
certainly a move expedient but his face does seem genuine as it comes through in those letters he wanted literacy and he sent young men to be educated in Portugal one of these was his son baptized Henrique who studied in Lisbon in Rome and in 1518 was consecrated by
Video examples
How coffee got quicker PIPE...
Bovee leaves behind a more expedient cup of joe. Out west, folks are still buying their coffee beans green, roasting the beans at home, then grinding them with a hand crank, all before actually brewing them.
Example 1 of 4
Quote examples
Maya Angelou
American Poet
All of us knows, not what is expedient, not what is going to make us popular, not what the policy is, or the company policy - but in truth each of us knows what is the right thing to do. And that's how I am guided.
Quote examples
Frank Lloyd Wright
American Architect
A free America... means just this: individual freedom for all, rich or poor, or else this system of government we call democracy is only an expedient to enslave man to the machine and make him like it.
Quote examples
Antonio Damasio
Portuguese Scientist
Why do we have a brain in the first place? Not to write books, articles, or plays; not to do science or play music. Brains develop because they are an expedient way of managing life in a body.
Quote examples
Barbara Amiel
British Journalist
Dictatorships do cut down on rape, and pillage, not to mention sexual harassment, by the simple expedient of sending people to labour camps for life or cutting off their hands without a trial.
Quote examples
Alexander Hamilton
American Politician
The inquiry constantly is what will please, not what will benefit the people. In such a government there can be nothing but temporary expedient, fickleness, and folly.
Quote examples
Ben Carson
American Scientist
I'm not a politician. I don't want to be a politician, because politicians do what is politically expedient. I want to do what's right.
Quote examples
Joseph Conrad
Polish Novelist
An artist is a man of action, whether he creates a personality, invents an expedient, or finds the issue of a complicated situation.
Quote examples
Katharine Butler Hathaway
American Author
If you let your fear of consequence prevent you from following your deepest instinct, your life will be safe, expedient and thin.
Quote examples
Horace
Roman Poet
A good and faithful judge ever prefers the honorable to the expedient.
Quote examples
Henry Ward Beecher
American Clergyman
Expedients are for the hour, but principles are for the ages.
Quote examples
Maya Angelou
American Poet
All of us knows, not what is expedient, not what is going to make us popular, not what the policy is, or the company policy - but in truth each of us knows what is the right thing to do. And that's how I am guided.
Quote examples
Frank Lloyd Wright
American Architect
A free America... means just this: individual freedom for all, rich or poor, or else this system of government we call democracy is only an expedient to enslave man to the machine and make him like it.
Quote examples
Antonio Damasio
Portuguese Scientist
Why do we have a brain in the first place? Not to write books, articles, or plays; not to do science or play music. Brains develop because they are an expedient way of managing life in a body.
Quote examples
Barbara Amiel
British Journalist
Dictatorships do cut down on rape, and pillage, not to mention sexual harassment, by the simple expedient of sending people to labour camps for life or cutting off their hands without a trial.
Quote examples
Alexander Hamilton
American Politician
The inquiry constantly is what will please, not what will benefit the people. In such a government there can be nothing but temporary expedient, fickleness, and folly.
Quote examples
Ben Carson
American Scientist
I'm not a politician. I don't want to be a politician, because politicians do what is politically expedient. I want to do what's right.
Quote examples
Joseph Conrad
Polish Novelist
An artist is a man of action, whether he creates a personality, invents an expedient, or finds the issue of a complicated situation.
Quote examples
Katharine Butler Hathaway
American Author
If you let your fear of consequence prevent you from following your deepest instinct, your life will be safe, expedient and thin.
Quote examples
Horace
Roman Poet
A good and faithful judge ever prefers the honorable to the expedient.
Quote examples
Henry Ward Beecher
American Clergyman
Expedients are for the hour, but principles are for the ages.
Example 1 of 10
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