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Expediency vs Benefit - What's the difference?

expediency | benefit |

In obsolete terms the difference between expediency and benefit

is that expediency is haste; dispatch while benefit is beneficence; liberality.

As nouns the difference between expediency and benefit

is that expediency is the quality of being fit or suitable to effect some desired end or the purpose intended; suitability for particular circumstance or situation while benefit is an advantage, help, sake or aid from something.

As a verb benefit is

to be or to provide a benefit to.

expediency

English

Noun

  • (uncountable) The quality of being fit or suitable to effect some desired end or the purpose intended; suitability for particular circumstance or situation.
  • * Cogan
  • Divine wisdom discovers no expediency in vice.
  • * Whately
  • 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.
  • (uncountable) Pursuit of the course of action that brings the desired effect even if it is unjust or unprincipled.
  • (obsolete) Haste; dispatch.
  • (countable) An expedient.
  • Synonyms

    * (suitability for a circumstance) expedience * expedience

    References

    * OED2 * * *

    benefit

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An advantage, help, sake or aid from something.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit , Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.}}
  • A payment made in accordance with an insurance policy or a public assistance scheme.
  • A performance, etc, given to raise funds for some cause.
  • (obsolete) beneficence; liberality
  • Derived terms

    * beneficial * benefiter

    Synonyms

    * (advantage, help ): foredeal, advantage, aid, assistance, boon, help * (payment ): subsidy

    Antonyms

    * (advantage, help ): disadvantage, encumbrance, hindrance, nuisance, obstacle, detriment

    See also

    * lagniappe

    Verb

  • To be or to provide a benefit to.
  • * Bible, Jer. xviii. 10
  • I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
  • To receive a benefit (from); to be a beneficiary.
  • Usage notes

    * Benefiting and benefited are more common, with benefitting and benefitted being a minor variant especially in the US.

    Synonyms

    * help, batten

    Antonyms

    * malefic * detriment

    Derived terms

    (terms derived from "benefit") * benefit association * benefit dollar * benefit in kind * benefit of clergy * benefit principle * benefit society * benefit-cost analysis * benefit-cost ratio * benefits coordinator * bennies * cafeteria benefit * child tax benefit * core benefit * cost-benefit analysis * death benefit * elective benefit * employee benefit * equivalent annual benefit * family benefit * friend with benefits * fringe benefit * income-related benefit * injury benefit * maternity benefit * means-tested benefit * nonstatutory fringe benefit * nonwage benefit * private benefit * risk-benefit * sickness benefit * state benefit * stranded benefit * supplementary benefit * survivor benefit * unemployment benefit * variable death benefit *