Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Subject to use or consumption.
- adjective Not worth salvaging or reusing.
- adjective Not strictly necessary; dispensable.
- adjective Open to sacrifice in the interests of gaining an objective, especially a military one.
- noun Something expendable.
from The Century Dictionary.
- That can be expended or consumed by use: as, articles expendable and not expendable.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Able to be
expended ; notinexhaustible . - adjective Designed for a
single use; notreusable . - adjective Not
essential ormandatory in order toachieve a goal. - adjective That which is regarded as not
worth preserving or saving; able to besacrificed . - noun An expendable person or object; usually used in the plural.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective suitable to be expended
- adjective (used of funds) remaining after taxes
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"So far, sites have focused their attention on a younger demographic, which is finite, fickle and limited in expendable income."
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Some may say I have a vested interest in the discussion; because if a child can be defined as expendable, what then of a person in their declining years?
Requiring viewing of pre-abortion ultrasounds: I’m with Crist on this one 2010
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The problem with present desire for NASA to base its entire Space Program on expendable launch vehicles, is the key word expendable!
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Del Mar and other community colleges have been told to submit plans identifying as expendable up to 5 percent of their state funding.
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Del Mar and other community colleges have been told to submit plans identifying as expendable up to 5 percent of their state funding.
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Del Mar and other community colleges have been told to submit plans identifying as expendable up to 5 percent of their state funding.
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Even huge turnaround time improvements on a refurbished vehicle doesn't seem like it would be such a significant design driver for a commercial payload vehicle to offset proven launch systems such as expendable rockets or something like a 2009 version of an X-15.
Masten Space System's Xombie Make First Successful Test Flight - NASA Watch 2009
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Did NASA carefully review to make sure they don't inadvertantly have some of the crew in an "expendable" classification?
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The very cultures that men have built, he says, have considered males more "expendable" than women.
Testosterone Put to the Test Dave Shiflett 2010
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I do not want government telling me what doctor to visit, how much to pay him, and when my grandmother will be considered "expendable" by government health care beauracrats.
House Democrat: Health care bill in doubt without public plan 2009
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