different between expedition vs expedient

English

Etymology

From Middle French expédition, and its source, Latin expeditio

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?ksp??d???n/
• Rhymes: -???n

Noun

expedition (countable and uncountable, plural expeditions)

1. (obsolete) The act of expediting something; prompt execution.
2. A military journey; an enterprise against some enemy or into enemy territory.
3. (now rare) The quality of being expedite; speed, quickness.
   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe:

     one of them began to come nearer our boat than at first I expected; but I lay ready for him, for I had loaded my gun with all possible expedition […] .

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 331:

     he presently exerted his utmost agility, and with surprizing expedition ascended the hill.

   • 1979, John Le Carré, Smiley's People, Folio Society 2010, p. 33:

     The photographer had photographed, the doctor had certified life extinct, the pathologist had inspected the body in situ as a prelude to conducting his autopsy – all with an expedition quite contrary to the proper pace of things, merely in order to clear the way for the visiting irregular, as the Deputy Assistant Commissioner (Crime and Ops) had liked to call him.

4. (military) An important or long journey, for example a march or a voyage
5. A trip, especially a long one, made by a person or a group of people for a specific purpose

6. (collective) The group of people making such excursion.

Related terms

Translations

Verb

expedition (third-person singular simple present expeditions, present participle expeditioning, simple past and past participle expeditioned)

1. (intransitive) To take part in a trip or expedition; to travel.
   • 1950, Sewage and Industrial Wastes Engineering (volume 21, page 588)

     The attendance was given color by the ISO women who graced some of the sessions, attended the social events and expeditioned around the famous spots in Washington and its periphery area.

   • 1998, Greg Child, Thin Air: Encounters in the Himalayas (page 185)

     I feel uprooted from the vital connections to Salley, to home, stranded with only the mountain and my fellow madmen as company. These thoughts appear like a mirage, a hallucination, a symptom of the schizophrenia of expeditioning.

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “expedition”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

expedition c

1. an expedition, a journey, a mission
2. an office

Declension

Related terms

• expeditionschef

English

Etymology

From Middle English expedient, from Old French expedient, from Latin expediens (stem expedient-), present participle of expedire (“to bring forward, to dispatch, to expedite; impers. to be profitable, serviceable, advantageous, expedient”), from ex (“out”) + p?s (“foot, hoof”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?spi?di.?nt/

Adjective

expedient (comparative more expedient, superlative most expedient)

1. Suitable to effect some desired end or the purpose intended.
   • a. 1863, Richard Whately, Thoughts and Apophthegms

     Nothing but the right can ever be the expedient, since that can never be true expediency which would sacrifice a greater good to a less.

2. Affording short-term benefit, often at the expense of the long-term.
3. Governed by self-interest, often short-term self-interest.
4. (obsolete) Expeditious, quick, rapid.
   • a 1623, Shakespeare, King John, Act II, scene i, lines 57–61:

     the adverse winds / Whose leisure I have stay'd, have given him time / To land his legions all as soon as I; / His marches are expedient to this town / His forces strong, his soldiers confident.

Synonyms

• advisable, desirable, judicious, politic, prudent, tactical, wise

Related terms

Translations

Noun

expedient (plural expedients)

1. A method or means for achieving a particular result, especially when direct or efficient; a resource.
   • 1906, O. Henry, The Green Door:

     He would never let her know that he was aware of the strange expedient to which she had been driven by her great distress.

   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, page 709:

     Depressingly, [...] the expedient of importing African slaves was in part meant to protect the native American population from exploitation.

Translations

Further reading

• expedient in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• expedient in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• expedient at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “expedient”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin expedi?ns.

Adjective

expedient (masculine and feminine plural expedients)

1. expedient, convenient

Noun

expedient m (plural expedients)

1. file, record, dossier

Derived terms

• expedientar

Further reading

• “expedient” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Latin

Verb

expedient

1. third-person plural future active indicative of expedi?

Romanian

Etymology

From French expédient.

Noun

expedient n (plural expediente)

1. expedient

Declension