exigent

English

WOTD – 6 January 2010

Alternative forms

• exigeant

Etymology

From Latin exigēns, present active participle of exigō (“demand, require”). Doublet of exigeant.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɛk.sɪ.d͡ʒənt/, /ˈɛɡ.zɪ.d͡ʒənt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

exigent (comparative more exigent, superlative most exigent)

1. Urgent; pressing; needing immediate action.
   • 2003, Working Group Report on Detainee Interrogations, U.S. Department of Defence

     Article 2 also provides that acts of torture cannot be justified on the grounds of exigent circumstances, such as state of war or public emergency, or on orders from a superior officer or public authority.

2. Demanding; requiring great effort.

Derived terms

• allocatur exigent
• exigent circumstance
• exigenter
• exigently
• inexigent
• unexigent

Related terms

• exigence
• exigency
• exigenter

Translations

urgent; needing immediate action

Bulgarian: неотложен (bg) (neotložen), належащ (bg) (naležašt) Chinese: Mandarin: 緊急 / 紧急 (zh) (jǐnjí), 迫切 (zh) (pòqiè) Dutch: dringend (nl) Finnish: kiireellinen (fi) French: urgent (fr), pressant (fr) German: dringend (de), dringlich (de), ernst (de) Hungarian: sürgős (hu), égető (hu), szorongató (hu) Portuguese: exigente (pt) m or f Russian: неотло́жный (ru) m (neotlóžnyj), сро́чный (ru) m (sróčnyj) Spanish: urgente (es)

demanding; needing great effort

Bulgarian: взискателен (bg) (vziskatelen) Catalan: exigent (ca) m or f Chinese: Mandarin: 苛求 (zh) (kēqiú) Dutch: veeleisend (nl) Finnish: vaativa (fi) French: exigeant (fr) German: anspruchsvoll (de) Hungarian: követelő (hu), követelődző (hu), igényes (hu) Italian: esigente (it) m or f Portuguese: exigente (pt) m or f Spanish: exigente (es)

Noun

exigent (plural exigents)

1. (archaic) Extremity; end; limit; pressing urgency.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v], page 104, column 2:

     Theſe Eyes, like Lampes, whoſe waſting Oyle is ſpent, / Waxe dimme, as drawing to their Exigent.

   • 1611, [Miles Smith], “The Translators to the Reader”, in The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC:

     Therefore as one complaineth, that always in the Senate of Rome [Cicero 5° de finibus.], there was one or other that called for an interpreter: ſo leſt the Church be driuen to the like exigent, it is neceſſary to haue tranſlations in a readineſſe.

2. (archaic) The amount that is required.
   • 1840 March, Robert Browning, “Book the Third”, in Sordello, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 102:

     [H]is enterprise / Marked out anew, its exigent of wit / Apportioned, she at liberty to sit / And scheme against the next emergence, […]

3. (obsolete, British, law) A writ in proceedings before outlawry.
   • 1607, John Cowell, The Interpreter:

     They also make forthe writs of executions, and of seifin, writs of super seders, for appearance to exigents

Translations

extremity

Russian: кра́йность (ru) f (krájnostʹ)

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin exigentem, present active participle of exigō (“demand, require”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [əɡ.ziˈʒen]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [əɡ.ziˈʒent]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [eɡ.ziˈd͡ʒent]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

exigent m or f (masculine and feminine plural exigents)

1. exigent, demanding

Related terms

• exigència
• exigir

Further reading

• “exigent”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “exigent”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “exigent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “exigent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Verb

exigent

1. third-person plural present indicative/subjunctive of exiger

Latin

Verb

exigent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of exigō

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French exigeant, from Latin exigens.

Adjective

exigent m or n (feminine singular exigentă, masculine plural exigenți, feminine/neuter plural exigente)

1. demanding

Declension

Declension of exigent

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	exigent		exigentă		exigenți	exigente
	definite	exigentul		exigenta		exigenții	exigentele
genitive- dative	indefinite	exigent		exigente		exigenți	exigente
	definite	exigentului		exigentei		exigenților	exigentelor