Both Uses of
expedient
in
The Hound of the Baskervilles
- Across the middle of it a single sentence had been formed by the expedient of pasting printed words upon it.†
Chpt 4expedient = convenient, speedy, or practical; or an action that is speedy or practical
- she adopted the expedient of cutting out the words which would form the message, and addressing the letter in a disguised hand.
Chpt 15 *expedient = practical action
Definitions:
-
(1)
(expedient) convenient and practical, but sometimes not the best or most moral choice
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, expedient can also imply that an action was taken for reasons of self-interest rather than for moral reasons.
In the sense of speedy, the word is less commonly used today than in the past; though it may still be used as in "an expedient end" or "an expedient amount of time," or "We are depending upon your expediency."