Generous vs Expedient - What's the difference?
generous | expedient | Related terms |
(obsolete) Of noble birth.
Noble in behaviour or actions; principled, not petty; kind, magnanimous.
Willing to give and share unsparingly; showing a readiness to give more (especially money) than is expected or needed.
Large, more than ample, copious.
Simple, easy, or quick; convenient.
* Bible, John xvi. 7
* Whately
Governed by self-interest, often short-term self-interest.
* 1861 , John Stuart Mill,
(obsolete) Quick; rapid; expeditious.
* Shakespeare
A method or means for achieving a particular result, especially when direct or efficient; a resource.
* 1906 , O. Henry, :
* 2009 , (Diarmaid MacCulloch), A History of Christianity , Penguin 2010, page 709:
Generous is a related term of expedient.
As an adjective generous
is (obsolete) of noble birth.As a noun expedient is
expedient.As a verb expedient is
.generous
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- Thank you for your generous words.
- She's been extremely generous with her winnings.
Synonyms
* See alsoexpedient
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- Most people, faced with a decision, will choose the most expedient option.
- It is expedient for you that I go away.
- Nothing but the right can ever be expedient , since that can never be true expediency which would sacrifice a greater good to a less.
- But the Expedient', in the sense in which it is opposed to the Right, generally means that which is ' expedient for the particular interest of the agent himself; as when a minister sacrifices the interests of his country to keep himself in place.
- His marches are expedient to this town.
Noun
(en noun)- He would never let her know that he was aware of the strange expedient to which she had been driven by her great distress.
- Depressingly, [...] the expedient of importing African slaves was in part meant to protect the native American population from exploitation.