expedience
noun/ɛkˈspiː.dɪ.əns/
Etymology From Middle English expedience, from Old French expedience, from Late Latin expedientia, from Latin expediens.
1
The quality of being fit or suitable to cause some desired end or the purpose intended; propriety or advisability under the particular circumstances of a case.
- April 11 1690, John Sharp, sermon preached at White-Hall to determine concerning the expedience of actions
2
Speed, haste or urgency.
- making hither with all due expedience1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
- The sense of expedience that allowed White to cut deals and keep moving had made many, mistakenly, see him as shallow or, worse, unprincipled.2008, Thomas Dyja, Walter White: The Dilemma of Black Identity in America, page 178:
3
Something that is expedient.
4
Obsolete An expedition; enterprise; adventure.
- forwarding this dear expediencec. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
- Synonyms
- expediency