expediency

1. (uncountable) The quality of being fit or suitable to effect some desired end or the purpose intended; suitability for particular circumstance or situation.Examples: "Imperfet governments […] may palliate crimes upon the plea of necessity or expediency; divine wisdom discovers no expediency in vice; […]"; "Much declamation may be heard in the present day against “expediency”, as if it were not the proper object of a Deliberative Assembly, and as if it were only pursued by the unprincipled."; "However, by that time the powerful tides of political unionism, metropolitan fashion and commercial expediency were flowing against the language, at least among the Scottish elites."Synonyms: expedienceuncountable

2. (uncountable) Pursuit of the course of action that brings the desired effect even if it is unjust or unprincipled.Examples: "Utterly neglectful of what he owes to the kingdom which he hopes to regain, Charles has learned but adversity's worst lesson—expediency."; "Others warned the British government’s approach would be imitated, for political expediency, by authorities elsewhere."Synonyms: convenienceuncountable

3. (obsolete) Haste; dispatch.Synonyms: expediencecountableobsoleteuncountable

4. (countable) An expedient.countable