| 释义 |
expediency|ɛkˈspiːdɪənsɪ|
Also 7 expedency.
[f. expedient: see -ency.]
1. The quality or state of being expedient; suitability to the circumstances or conditions of the case; fitness, advantage; † an advantage.
1612Brinsley Lud. Lit. xxviii. (1627) 281 Though some good Schoolemasters doe doubt of the expediency. 1661Grand Debate 10 Those who are unsatisfied concerning their lawfulness, or expedency. a1677Barrow Serm. xxxii. (1741) II. 333 From a wise consideration of humane affairs..we may collect the..expediency, the..necessity of a future judgment. 1680H. Dodwell 2 Lett. (1691) C j b, Many other expediencies hereof [of this Compendium] might have been mentioned. 1741Middleton Cicero II. ix. 309 In some perplexity..about the expediency of the voyage. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. iii. 194/2 It is not a question of expediency, it is a question of sheer necessity.
†b. concr. = expedient B. 2. Obs.
1683Barnard Life Heylin 117 He proposed a most excellent expediency..for the satisfaction of some scrupulous members.
2. The consideration of what is expedient, as a motive or rule of action; ‘policy’, prudential considerations as distinguished from those of morality or justice. In mod. use often in a bad sense, the consideration of what is merely politic (esp. with regard to self-interest) to the neglect of what is just or right.
1612–5Bp. Hall Contempl. N.T. i. i, Matters of good order in holy affairs may be ruled..according to reason and expediency. 1754Chatham Lett. Nephew vi. 43 Matters of mere expediency, that affect neither honor, morality, or religion. 1786Burke W. Hastings Wks. 1842 II. 168 Warren Hastings did act..contrary to his own declared sense of expediency, consistency, and justice. 1815Jane Austen Emma i. xviii. 126 Following his duty instead of consulting expediency. 1828D'Israeli Chas. I, II. ix. 230 Where political expediency seems to violate all moral right. 1862Ruskin Unto this Last 8 For no human actions ever were intended..to be guided by balances of expediency. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 156 The right of private property is based on expediency.
b. occas. in pl. Motives of expediency; the requirements of expediency.
1843Carlyle Past & Pr. (1858) 139 Looming with shapes of expediencies. 1859Mill Liberty i. 25 These reasons must arise from the special expediencies of the case.
3. Comb.
1853G. S. Faber Revival Fr. Emp. 54 Even those wise men of this world, our liberalising Expediency-Mongers, have been constrained to admit, etc. |