Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Expedient

Ex·pe′di·ent (·ent) a. [L. expediens, -entis, p. pr. of expedire to be expedient, release, extricate: cf. F. expédient. 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.

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.

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.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.