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exigency

/ˈeksɪdʒənsi//ɪɡˈzɪdʒənsi/·noun
an urgent need or demand created by a pressing situation
Fig. 1 — The trace is rolling out its steady beat and then, with no negotiation, it drops flat — one unbroken tone, and whatever I meant to think through, there's no longer a moment to think it in.
01Definition

An exigency is a demand made by circumstances — an urgent need that a situation forces on you, leaving little room to deliberate. It comes from Latin exigere, 'to demand or drive out', and that pressure is its essence: an exigency does not ask, it requires. The word is formal and often plural — 'the exigencies of war', 'the exigencies of the moment' — and it always points outward, to conditions beyond your control that suddenly dictate what must be done now rather than later.

02In use
  • iIn an exigency, even a normally cautious manager has to commit before all the facts are in.
  • iiThe exigencies of the flood forced an imminent evacuation of the whole valley.
  • iiiWartime exigencies pushed the government to ration food within a matter of weeks.
03Collocations
  • the exigencies of war
  • financial exigency
  • the exigencies of the moment
  • meet an exigency
  • in times of exigency

Family exigent (adjective) · exigencies (plural noun)

04Relations

=urgency, emergency, crisis, necessity, pressing demand

06TOEFL & IELTS

A formal, high-register noun for IELTS Writing on crisis, governance and decision-making, usually in the plural ('the exigencies of modern life'). Two stress patterns are both accepted — EK-si-jen-see and ig-ZIJ-en-see — so don't be thrown hearing either. Pairs almost ritually with 'of war' and 'of the moment'.

07Asked
Where is the stress in exigency — EK-si-jen-see or ig-ZIJ-en-see?
Either — both are correct, and dictionaries list both. EK-si-jen-see puts the stress up front; ig-ZIJ-en-see puts it on the second syllable and voices the x to 'gz'. Neither is wrong, so do not be thrown hearing either. The adjective exigent, by contrast, has just one form: EK-si-junt.
What does 'the exigencies of' mean?
It names the urgent demands a situation forces on you — 'the exigencies of war', 'the exigencies of the moment'. The phrase is almost a fixed frame: exigencies of, followed by a pressing circumstance. It always points outward, to conditions beyond your control that dictate what must be done now, leaving no room to deliberate.
What is the plural of exigency, and why is it usually plural?
The plural is exigencies, and the word appears in the plural far more often than the singular — because pressures rarely arrive alone. A crisis presses from several directions at once, so writers speak of 'the exigencies of modern life' rather than a single exigency. Meet the plural first; the singular is the rarer form.
What are 'exigent circumstances'?
A legal term for an emergency pressing enough to justify acting without the usual procedure — police may enter without a warrant under exigent circumstances, such as a life in immediate danger. Exigent is the adjective from exigency: the situation is so demanding that normal steps must be skipped. The scene above is exigency itself — a flatline that moves the hands before anyone can choose.
What is the difference between exigency and emergency?
An emergency is the dangerous situation; an exigency is the demand that situation places on you. They overlap, but the emphasis differs: emergency names the crisis, exigency names the pressure to act it creates. Exigency is also far more formal — you would call an ambulance in an emergency, and write of 'the exigencies of office' in an essay.
Is exigency a formal word?
Distinctly — it belongs to writing about crisis, governance, and law, and sounds stiff in conversation, where 'urgent need' or 'pressure' does the everyday work. That formality is its exam value: 'the exigencies of the situation demanded a swift response' reads a full register above 'things were urgent'. Reserve it for high-register writing.