exigency
noun
ig-ˈzi-jən(t)- 
D. B. Ottaway
Synonyms
- boiling point
- breaking point
- clutch
- conjuncture
- crisis
- crossroad(s)
- crunch
- crunch time
- Dunkirk
- emergency
- extremity
- flash point
- head
- juncture
- tinderbox
- zero hour
Example Sentences
Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes, 4 May 2022 The predicament illustrates the exigency of the deepening refugee crisis. Washington Post, 11 Mar. 2022 Taxes levied for a temporary exigency become perpetual obligations. Gerard Baker, WSJ, 31 Jan. 2022 This was reduced to $1.5 million at a time of exigency for the studio, and Mr. Friedkin recalls on the 2009 Blu-ray disc from Fox that the film finally cost $1.8 million. Peter Cowie, WSJ, 15 Oct. 2021 Her topsy-turvy life is a reminder, too, that if the personal is the political, the political is also the personal, driven by inconsistency and exigency. Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker, 13 Sep. 2021 Barriers of language, culture, religion and even species would be dissolved in the exigency of a moment no one knew how long might last. Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2021 The question to me has been colleges consolidating plus institutions declaring financial exigency, which is accredited higher education’s version of bankruptcy. Michael B. Horn, Forbes, 27 May 2021 Vermont, America’s second-whitest state (after Maine), has taken that exigency to heart. The Economist, 11 Apr. 2021 See More Word History
1588, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Legal Definition
exigency
noun
exigency
noun
Synonyms & Similar Words
- crisis
- emergency
- situation
- extremity
- crossroad(s)
- conjuncture
- head
- juncture
- crunch
- predicament
- contingency
- flash point
- zero hour
- boiling point
- clutch
- possibility
- breaking point
- crunch time
- tinderbox
- point of no return
- moment of truth
- condition
- climax
- milestone
- happening
- impasse
- Dunkirk
- corner
- landmark
- deadlock
- turning point
- pass
- hot water
- pinch
- strait
- stalemate
- jam
- spot
- fix
- last ditch
- last minute
- hole
- eleventh hour
- scrape
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of exigency are contingency, crisis, emergency, juncture, pinch, straits, and strait. While all these words mean "a critical or crucial time or state of affairs," exigency stresses the pressure of restrictions or urgency of demands created by a special situation.
In some situations, the words contingency and exigency are roughly equivalent. However, contingency implies an emergency or exigency that is regarded as possible but uncertain of occurrence.
While in some cases nearly identical to exigency, crisis applies to a juncture whose outcome will make a decisive difference.
Although the words emergency and exigency have much in common, emergency applies to a sudden unforeseen situation requiring prompt action to avoid disaster.
The words juncture and exigency are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, juncture stresses the significant concurrence or convergence of events.
Pinch implies urgency or pressure for action to a less intense degree than exigency or emergency.
Strait, now commonly straits, applies to a troublesome situation from which escape is extremely difficult.