expedient

expedient, politic, advisable mean dictated by practical or prudent motives. expedient usually implies what is immediately advantageous without regard for ethics or consistent principles.

• • a politically expedient decision

politic stresses judiciousness and tactical value but usually implies some lack of candor or sincerity.

• • a politic show of interest

advisable applies to what is practical, prudent, or advantageous but lacks the derogatory implication of expedient and politic.

• • sometimes it's advisable to say nothing

resource, resort, expedient, shift, makeshift, stopgap mean something one turns to in the absence of the usual means or source of supply. resource and resort apply to anything one falls back upon.

• • exhausted all of their resources
• • a last resort

expedient may apply to any device or contrivance used when the usual one is not at hand or not possible.

• • a flimsy expedient

shift implies a tentative or temporary imperfect expedient.

• • desperate shifts to stave off foreclosure

makeshift implies an inferior expedient adopted because of urgent need or allowed through indifference.

• • old equipment employed as a makeshift

stopgap applies to something used temporarily as an emergency measure.

• • a new law intended only as a stopgap