exigent

Alternative forms

• exigeant

Etymology

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

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.

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

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]

Adjective

exigent m or f (masculine and feminine plural exigents)

1. exigent, demanding

Further reading

• “exigent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “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.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

exigent

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

Verb

exigent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of exigō

Etymology

Borrowed from French exigeant, from Latin exigens.

Adjective

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

1. demanding