Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Not essential; unimportant.
  • adjective Capable of being dispensed, administered, or distributed.
  • adjective Subject to dispensation, as a vow or church law.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Capable of being dispensed or administered.
  • Capable of being spared or dispensed with.
  • Capable of receiving or being the subject of dispensation; hence, excusable; pardonable.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Capable of being dispensed or administered.
  • adjective Capable of being dispensed with.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Able to be done without; able to be expended; easily replaced.
  • adjective Capable of being dispensed; distributable.
  • adjective of a law, etc. Subject to dispensation; possible to relax, exempt from, or annul.
  • adjective biochemistry, nutrition, of an amino acid Not essential to be taken in as part of an organism's diet, as it can be synthesized de novo.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective capable of being dispensed with or done without

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • You'll have to give up some stuff on that list and which are dispensable is something only you guys know.

    Help finding our ideal place in Mexico 2007

  • Klf-4 and c-myc endogenously expressed in the starting cells, make forcing their expression dispensable

    PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles Simone Pacini et al. 2010

  • (Romesh Ratnesar subtitles his dispensable book on Reagan's 1987 "tear down this wall" speech in Berlin "A City, a President, and the Speech That Ended the Cold War.")

    1989! Ash, Timothy Garton 2009

  • This book is described as a gripping exploration of a society in the throes of a system geared toward eliminating those who do not contribute by conventional means, in which the 'dispensable' ones are convinced under gentle coercion of the importance of sacrificing for the 'necessary' ones.

    Archive 2010-04-01 2010

  • This book is described as a gripping exploration of a society in the throes of a system geared toward eliminating those who do not contribute by conventional means, in which the 'dispensable' ones are convinced under gentle coercion of the importance of sacrificing for the 'necessary' ones.

    Books I'd Be Reading If I Had the Time 2010

  • Additionally, the acceptance that Murray was 'dispensable' (this isn't exactly the right word, but Murray and I struggled to find the word that encapsulated this idea): if Murray stopped, the performance would go on just fine without him.

    Irish Blogs 2009

  • So, let's put together an alternative list: every one is 'dispensable' / 'inessential' it's important to add something unexpected / incongruous / different you have the possibility, and the responsibility to, (re) define you role random observations and questions

    Irish Blogs 2009

  • 'dispensable' in the pursuit of the greater common good.

    WHAT REALLY HAPPENED 2009

  • First, there's the whole set of assumptions, ranging from crude to very subtle, that women's lives are worth less then men's, that women are dispensable.

    Katherine Marshall: Families, Planning, And Faith Katherine Marshall 2011

  • First, there's the whole set of assumptions, ranging from crude to very subtle, that women's lives are worth less then men's, that women are dispensable.

    Katherine Marshall: Families, Planning, And Faith Katherine Marshall 2011

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