Meanings
plural exigencies
- countablein pluraluncountableThe demands or requirements of a situation which often demand immediate action.
[...] but these details I am compelled by exigencies of space to hold over until next month.
1940 July, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 4082 more examples
My business is with you, and you only. You should not have undertaken your office, unless prepared for its various exigencies.
1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 226No ordinary man could have escaped those frightful claws when Numa sprang from so short a distance, but Tarzan was no ordinary man. From earliest childhood his muscles had been trained by the fierce exigencies of his existence to act with the rapidity of thought.
1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 80
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna sudden unforeseen crisis (usually involving danger) that requires immediate action
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Late Latinexigentia“urgency”
- Middle Frenchexigence
- Englishexigency
From Middle French exigence, from Late Latin exigentia (“urgency”) (from exigēns + -ia), from exigere (“to demand”).
More words from Middle French, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
German Erfordernisse, Anforderungen
- Erfordernissedemands or requirements of a situation
- Anforderungendemands or requirements of a situation
- Zwangslageurgent situation
- Notlageurgent situation
Polish pilna potrzeba, krytyczna sytuacja
- pilna potrzebademands or requirements of a situation
- krytyczna sytuacjaurgent situation
Russian срочность
- срочность (sročnostʹ)urgent situation
Ukrainian потреба, вимога
- потреба (potreba)demands or requirements of a situation
- вимога (vymoha)demands or requirements of a situation
Cite this entry
exigency. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exigency
“exigency.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exigency. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “exigency,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exigency.
Source: exigency on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.