expediency

plural expediencies

1. uncountableThe quality of being fit or suitable to effect some desired end or the purpose intended; suitability for particular circumstance or situation.

   Imperfet governments […] may palliate crimes upon the plea of necessity or expediency; divine wisdom discovers no expediency in vice; […]

   1810, Thomas Cogan, An Ethical Treatise on the Passions and Affections of the Mind, page 137

   2 more examples

   Much declamation may be heard in the present day against “expediency”, as if it were not the proper object of a Deliberative Assembly, and as if it were only pursued by the unprincipled.

   1828, Richard Whately, Elements of Rhetoric, part II, p. 214

   However, by that time the powerful tides of political unionism, metropolitan fashion and commercial expediency were flowing against the language, at least among the Scottish elites.

   2023, Clive Young, “chapter three: From Union to Devolution”, in Unlocking Scots: The Secret Life of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Luath Press Limited, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 76

   Synonyms: expedience

2. uncountablePursuit of the course of action that brings the desired effect even if it is unjust or unprincipled.

   Others warned the British government’s approach would be imitated, for political expediency, by authorities elsewhere.

   2021 July 16, Ben Quinn, “England’s Covid unlocking is threat to world, say 1,200 scientists”, in The Guardian

   1 more example

   Utterly neglectful of what he owes to the kingdom which he hopes to regain, Charles has learned but adversity's worst lesson—expediency.

   1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 258

   Synonyms: convenience

3. countableobsoleteuncountableHaste; dispatch.

   Synonyms: expedience

4. countableAn expedient.