different between exiguous vs exigency

English

Etymology

From Latin exiguus (“strict, exact”), from exigere (“to measure against a standard”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???z??ju.?s/, /???z??ju.?s/

Adjective

exiguous (comparative more exiguous, superlative most exiguous)

1. scanty; meager
   • 1889 — Robert Louis Stevenson, The Wrong Box ch XIII

     The herdboy in the broom, already musical in the days of Father Chaucer, startles (and perhaps pains) the lark with this exiguous pipe.

   • 1912 — G. K. Chesterton, Manalive ch VII

     The path on which I then planted my feet was quite unprecedentedly narrow. I had never had to walk along a thoroughfare so exiguous.

   • 1998 — Michael Ignatieff, Rebirth of a Nation: An Anatomy of Russia. New Statesman, Feb 6.

     They are entering the market, setting up stalls on snowy streets, moonlighting to supplement exiguous incomes.

   • 2012 — Rodger Cohen, Scottexalonia Rising, New York Times, Nov. 26., Op. Ed.

     National politics, as President François Hollande of France is only the latest to discover, is often no more than tweaking at the margins in the exiguous political space left by markets and other global forces.

Derived terms

• exiguate
• exiguity
• exiguously
• exiguousness
• unexiguous

Related terms

• exigency

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle French exigence , from Late Latin exigentia (“urgency”) (from exig?ns + -ia), from exigere (“to demand”).

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): [???z?d??nsi]

Noun

exigency (countable and uncountable, plural exigencies)

1. (chiefly in the plural) The demands or requirements of a situation.
2. An urgent situation, one requiring extreme effort or attention.

Synonyms

• exigence
• necessity
• urgency

Related terms

• exigent
• exigenter
• exiguity
• exiguous

Translations

References

Further reading

• exigency in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• exigency in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• exigency at OneLook Dictionary Search