Make Your Point > Archived Issues > EXIGENCY
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pronounce
EXIGENCY:
Say it "EGG zuh jen see."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
Even if you're not familiar with the words exigent and exigency, you'd probably understand them just fine in context. Check this out, for example, from the Washington Post:
"Mr. Whitaker’s selection to be acting attorney general, without Senate confirmation for any job in the government, raises legal issues... History and a plain reading of the law suggest that such an arrangement is permissible only in exigent circumstances and for very limited periods of time."
Here, you'd be crossing your arms, nodding your head, "Yup, of course, only in exigent circumstances. Only in the case of a crisis or some other dire situation."
And there we have it: an exigency is a crisis, a dire situation, an emergency.
Let's recall some words for interesting types of exigencies:
1. An im____lio is a complicated, confusing, embarrassing situation.
2. A qu____re is a swamp, or a bad position or situation that's hard to get out of.
3. Zug____g, from the world of chess, is a situation in which you must make a move, but any move you make will be bad for you.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
We took our word "exigency" from a Latin one meaning "urgency." The Latin roots inside "exigency" literally mean "(something) forced or driven out."
So, "exigency" is cousins with tons of words that involve action or movement, like "act," "navigate," and "litigate." You can read more about these cousins here, in the issue about the word "cogent," another cousin.
In English, originally, an exigency was something urgently required or needed. We still use that meaning today: we talk about the exigencies of some situation, meaning its urgent requirements, its specific needs or demands.
We also use a newer meaning: an exigency is a situation that needs urgent action.
(You can see how that newer meaning grew naturally out of the first one: there's a fine line between "urgent demands" and "a situation full of urgent demands.")
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
Noun, both the countable kind ("it was an exigency;" "the situation's many exigencies") and the uncountable kind ("in a time of exigency").
Other forms:
Exigencies, exigent, exigently.
There's an alternate noun: "exigence," with the plural "exigences." But I recommend sticking with "exigency," since it's more common.
how to use it:
"Exigency" is one of those academic words that, despite being semi-common in print, may never have attracted your notice or made itself at home in your own productive vocabulary. So, let's get to know it!
It's a formal, serious kind of word.
When we use its first meaning ("a pressing need, demand, or requirement"), we tend to stick with the plural: "the exigencies of this situation," "the exigencies of their traditional process," "the shifting exigencies of the ride-sharing industry." Here's the New York Times: "Almost three million fewer Americans cast ballots for him than for Hillary Clinton; he received 46 percent of the popular vote. But thanks to the exigencies of the Electoral College, he won the presidency nonetheless."
And when we use its second meaning ("a crisis, an emergency, or a pressing situation"), we stick with the singular: "the exigency of their circumstances," "the exigency of this situation," "this is an exigency that we cannot ignore," "we would allow that only in an exigency."
examples:
"'I was doing all these Zoom meetings, and I didn't have the garments I wanted,' Alessandro Sartori, the Zegna designer, said last week by phone from northern Italy. What he needed was lightweight things suited to the new exigencies of the workplace."
— Guy Trebay, New York Times, 15 July 2020
"Financial exigency grants the board extraordinary powers to reduce costs, including the ability to fire faculty members and end academic programmes."
— Nature, 28 August 2019
has this page helped you understand "exigency"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "exigency" without saying "crisis" or "dire need."
try it out:
Talk about an exigency that you're personally dealing with, or one that your whole community or nation is dealing with. What makes this exigency so pressing? What would happen if you were to ignore it?
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
Our game this month is Perfectly Cromulent Words!
In each issue this month, match a scene from The Simpsons to the term that it calls to mind.
To see the answer, scroll to the bottom of the issue.
Try this one today:
Does the scene below suggest the word gelid, glacial, or guileless?
review this word:
A. NEGLIGIBLE.
B. IMPERATIVE.
C. INSIDE-BASEBALL.
2. We've done our best to _____ the exigencies of _____.
A. ignore .. these hyperactive kids
B. deal with .. the global pandemic
C. take advantage of .. college scholarships
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Even if you're not familiar with the words exigent and exigency, you'd probably understand them just fine in context. Check this out, for example, from the Washington Post:
We took our word "exigency" from a Latin one meaning "urgency." The Latin roots inside "exigency" literally mean "(something) forced or driven out."
Part of speech:
"Exigency" is one of those academic words that, despite being semi-common in print, may never have attracted your notice or made itself at home in your own productive vocabulary. So, let's get to know it!
"'I was doing all these Zoom meetings, and I didn't have the garments I wanted,' Alessandro Sartori, the Zegna designer, said last week by phone from northern Italy. What he needed was lightweight things suited to the new exigencies of the workplace."
Explain the meaning of "exigency" without saying "crisis" or "dire need."
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
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