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What is "expedient"

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expedient
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
expedient
I.adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
politically
▪ It may therefore become economically and politically expedient to encourage a shift to more labour intensive methods of primary production.
▪ Aicha Kossoko exerts a brooding presence as Octavia, suffering nobly through her politically expedient marriage to the unloving Antony.
▪ There can be little doubt that any government would rapidly do so should it become politically expedient.
▪ Presumably, this is a politically expedient decision; but how long can this car dependence be sustained?
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a politically expedient compromise
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ It may, therefore, be expedient on certain occasions to utilise taped material in a more selective manner.
▪ Politically, expressing horror at degeneracy was expedient.
▪ Presumably, this is a politically expedient decision; but how long can this car dependence be sustained?
▪ The arrangement, however, was not just expedient.
▪ There can be little doubt that any government would rapidly do so should it become politically expedient.
II.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
simple
▪ The meme for blind faith secures its own perpetuation by the simple unconscious expedient of discouraging rational inquiry.
▪ Now down into crawler gear he pushes on, finding regular protection by the simple expedient of removing most of the ice!
▪ They divined the contents of sealed envelopes by the simple expedient of opening the staples at the other end of the envelope.
▪ So he adopted the simple expedient of not opening it until it was beyond his power to act on it.
▪ The Pearl has a 6,500-strong sales force which collects insurance premiums and arranges policies by the simple expedient of house-to-house calls.
▪ Billy Bragg has the unusual gift of making other people's songs his own by the simple expedient of singing them.
▪ And moral outrage at the use of simple expedients can still run high.
temporary
▪ Mr Ashdown is not content with imposing his version of stability as a temporary expedient, a regrettably necessary short-term tactic.
▪ Our efforts in agricultural science are thus, at best, temporary expedients.
▪ On the eve of the October revolution, the Provisional Government accepted this as a temporary expedient.
▪ Taylor himself never placed undue stock in it, viewing it largely as a temporary expedient.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Now down into crawler gear he pushes on, finding regular protection by the simple expedient of removing most of the ice!
▪ Our efforts in agricultural science are thus, at best, temporary expedients.
▪ So he adopted the simple expedient of not opening it until it was beyond his power to act on it.
▪ Taylor himself never placed undue stock in it, viewing it largely as a temporary expedient.
▪ They divined the contents of sealed envelopes by the simple expedient of opening the staples at the other end of the envelope.
▪ Where a system of conscription operated all sorts of expedients were used to avoid service.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Expedient

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.

Expedient

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 or principled.

    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.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
expedient

late 14c., "advantageous, fit, proper to a purpose," from Old French expedient "useful, beneficial" (14c.) or directly from Latin expedientem (nominative expediens) "beneficial," present participle of expedire "make fit or ready, prepare" (see expedite). The noun meaning "a device adopted in an exigency, that which serves to advance a desired result" is from 1650s. Related: Expediential; expedientially (both 19c.).\n\nExpedient, contrivance, and device indicate artificial means of escape from difficulty or embarrassment; resource indicates natural means or something possessed; resort and shift may indicate either.

[Century Dictionary]

Wiktionary
expedient

a. 1 simple, easy, or quick; convenient. 2 Governed by self-interest, often short-term self-interest. 3 (context obsolete English) Quick; rapid; expeditious. n. A method or means for achieving a particular result, especially when direct or efficient; a resource.

WordNet
expedient

  1. adj. serving to promote your interest; "was merciful only when mercy was expedient" [ant: inexpedient]

  2. appropriate to a purpose; practical; "in the circumstances it was expedient to express loyalty"

expedient

n. a means to an end; not necessarily a principled or ethical one

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Expedient

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Usage examples of "expedient".

With respect to any financial plans for the present year, the chancellor stated he should reserve to himself the power of adopting that which the situation of public affairs rendered most expedient.

He had lived in it himself before Alvarado had found it expedient to give him a one-way ticket abroad.

President is hereby authorized, at any time hereafter, by proclamation, to extend to persons who may have participated in the existing rebellion in any State or part thereof, pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions, at such times and on such conditions as he may deem expedient for the public welfare.

We came presently, after having agreed on this notable expedient, to one of those hedge-accommodations for foot passengers, at the door do which stood an old crazy beldam, who seeing us trudge by, invited us to lodge there.

They were usefully employed as shepherds and husbandmen, but were denied the exercise of arms, except when it was found expedient to enroll them in the military service.

And, as if in the expedient atmosphere of a real summer resort, an acquaintance grew, flowered and fructified on the spot as does the mystic plant of the conjuror.

Even Gamelan found it politically expedient to withdraw to his retreat beyond the city, there to immerse himself in the wisdom of the Other Worlds before making a statement on the terrible events.

I fancied that I had hit upon an excellent expedient, which at all events made me gain time, and I resolved to act upon it.

I only persuaded my colleagues to order the players to decamp, and to give the Tappit-hen notice, that it would be expedient for the future sale of her pies and porter, at untimeous hours, and that she should flit her howff from our town.

Disjunction seems of all expedients worst: If any stay, then stay should every man, Gather, inlace, and close up hip to hip, And perk and bristle hedgehog-like with spines!

After purchasing a couple of thick veils, they had set out in a hack for Cranbourn Alley, having discovered the existence of the firm of Catworth and Son through the simple expedient of asking the jarvey on the box to recommend them a jeweller not patronized by persons of quality.

The use of marriage was permitted only to his fallen posterity, as a necessary expedient to continue the human species, and as a restraint, however imperfect, on the natural licentiousness of desire.

Thus did I, in a manner most unexpected, get myself rid and clear of the two most obdurate oppositionists, and by taking care to choose discreet persons for their successors, I was enabled to wind the council round my finger, which was a far more expedient method of governing the community than what I had at one time meditated, even if I could have brought it to a bearing.

We would spread out a blanket, pile clothes at the four corners to screen our hands from view, and shuffle our cheap bone set of placques by the simple expedient of shaking their bag, then each of us drawing our nine just by reaching in.

He related his hopes for the boy, the manner in which they had been blasted by the unjust and selfish policy of the state, his different efforts to procure the release of his grandson, and his bold expedients at the regatta, and the fancied nuptials with the Adriatic.