What does expedience mean?
Expedience is a formal noun describing the quality of being convenient, useful, or advantageous for a particular purpose — often implying that ethical or broader considerations have been set aside in favour of what works right now. When commentators speak of political expedience, they typically suggest that a decision was made because it was easy or self-serving rather than because it was right. The word derives from Latin expedire, meaning 'to free the feet' or 'to disentangle', which also gave us expedite, expedition, and expedient. Though grammatically interchangeable with the far more common 'expediency', expedience appears less frequently today and tends to sound somewhat literary or old-fashioned. It is most often found in criticism of institutions, where it serves as shorthand for pragmatism shading into opportunism, making it a valuable word for discussing compromise, policy, and motive with precision.
nounThe quality of being convenient and practical despite possibly disregarding ethics or other considerations; the pursuit or achievement of a desired end by whatever means are most immediately effective.
- The quality of being convenient and practical, often at the expense of moral or principled considerations.
- (Less common) Suitability for achieving a particular purpose; fitness for an end.
"The committee's decision was driven less by principle than by sheer expedience."
"Critics accused the government of choosing the route of expedience over long-term reform."
"For a firm built on reputation, such short-term expedience proved costly."
Rarely used in the plural; the word normally functions as an uncountable mass noun referring to the abstract quality.
"The report catalogued the many expediences that had shaped the agency's decisions."
'Expedience' comes from the Latin for 'freeing one's feet' — literally getting unstuck — which makes it ironic that today it so often means doing the convenient thing rather than the right one.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of expedience
Expedience comes from the Latin verb expedire, formed from ex- ('out') and pes/pedis ('foot'), originally meaning 'to free the feet' and hence 'to disentangle, make ready, or accomplish'. The word entered English in the early modern period, alongside its sibling forms expedient and expediency, all drawn from the same Latin source. Its relatives include expedite and expedition, while the underlying notion of freeing the feet connects it distantly to the Germanic root that gave English 'speed'.
Related word forms
How expedience is actually used
'Expedience' is a formal word, largely confined to written English, and frequently carries a negative connotation of unprincipled pragmatism. In contemporary usage 'expediency' has largely displaced it.
Easily confused with expedience
'Expediency' and 'expedience' mean essentially the same thing, but 'expediency' is far more common in modern usage, especially in phrases like 'political expediency'; 'expedience' survives chiefly as a slightly more formal or older variant.