Is “expidentially” a real word”? I’ve been hearing it quite often after the hurricane down south in comments like “the flood damage is increasing expidentially the longer it takes to repair the levies”. It sounds a little like “exponentially” which I did find in an online dictionary. Is it supposed to be the same word or something different? Is this a new word that just hasn’t been recognized by Webster yet? Any ideas?
The word is exponentially. Could be some news anchor is mispronouncing it.
It sounds like they mean “exponentially” (and not, say, “expediently”). Possibilities:
1.) I don’t know the circumstances you’re hearing it in. Maybe it’s high winds in the background or something
2.) Maybe this is how “exponentially” sounds when squeezed through a New Orleans accent.
3.) Maybe the people saying it aren’t familiar with it, and are giving it a “best guess” at pronouncing a word they’re trying to recall.