Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Not to be dispensed with; essential.
- adj. Obligatory; unavoidable: the routine but indispensable ceremonies of state.
- n. One that is indispensable.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Not to be set aside, evaded, or escaped; inevitable.
- Not to be dispensed with; not to be omitted or spared; absolutely necessary or requisite.
- Not permissible by dispensation or license; incapable of being legalized.
- n. An indispensable person or thing.
- n. Specifically, trousers.
- n. A bag or pocket, frequently of silk and much decorated, worn by women in the first years of the nineteenth century, on the outside of the gown, instead of inside, as an ordinary pocket would be.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Not dispensable; impossible to be omitted, remitted, or spared; absolutely necessary or requisite.
- adj. (Eccl.), rare Not admitting dispensation; not subject to release or exemption.
- adj. obsolete Unavoidable; inevitable.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. absolutely necessary; vitally necessary
- adj. not to be dispensed with; essential.
- adj. unavoidable.
Etymologies
- From Medieval Latin indispensabilis, corresponding to in- + dispensable. Compare French indispensable. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The importance of The Living Age to every American reader, as the only satisfactorily fresh and ~COMPLETE~ compilation of an indispensable current literature, -- _indispensable_ because it embraces the productions of”
The Nursery, No. 109, January, 1876, Vol. XIX. A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers
“The measure, which he described as indispensable to implement reforms more effectively, is Medvedev's first major proposal to amend the Russian Constitution.”
“He expressed his great dread of her catching cold, and having a relapse in consequence; but she firmly replied, that she never feared any evil when she was performing a sacred religious duty; that God was too wise and too good to permit one of his creatures to suffer, when in the act of obeying his commands; and she urged so many pious reasons to shew the necessity of her not delaying to perform what she termed her indispensable duty, that my father silently, but very reluctantly, submitted to her decision.”
“One feature of Opera I find indispensable is "keyword searching" - type a keyword or letter followed by a phrase in the address bar, and it will search for it. ie: "w bacon" searches wikipedia for bacon, "z bacon" searches amazon, etc.”
“Worse still is to hear them described as the indispensable choices for these positions … In any case, what is really needed in the job right now is a heavyweight to sell some big ideas.”
“Worse still is to hear them described as the indispensable choices for these positions ...”
“Worse still is to hear them described as the indispensable choices for these positions.”
“Among their consequences are the liberal minds relentless efforts to misrepresent human nature and to deny certain indispensable requirements for human relating.”
Sound Politics: The Difference Between Liberals and Conservatives
“When Charles Degault first left power in the 1950's, someone called indispensable and he made an interesting comment.”
“As a transatlantic community sharing a common destiny, as a platform for joint Western policy and as an instrument for the prevention of war, NATO will remain indispensable for as far ahead as I can see.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘indispensable’.
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Article's related words
reading 2 articles a week and here will reference unknown words, weekly!
fervor, belie, inure, hiatus, ambivalent, chasten, revere, despise, expurgate, edify, neologism, inchoate and 13 more...
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Words from Moby Dick
frigate, presumptuous, genteel, succor, hearthstone, gentry, factitious, bilious, insurgent, portent, enervate, genuflect and 303 more...
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five syllables
ontogenesis, phylogenesis, concatenation, androgenesis, extra textual, inexorably, spagyrically, apophenia, iatrochemist, monocotyloid, morphological, parthenogenic and 941 more...
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Words
My list of words.
veritable, facetious, nadir, quixotic, apropos, acquiesce, ostensible, insipid, egregious, inveterate, coax, adroit and 409 more...
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Why We Curse: WTF?
This list collects the magnificent collection of vocabulary of the article "What the F***? Why We Curse," by Steven Pinker, in The New Republic (Oct. 2007). I think I'm more impressed with the coll...
curse, language, earthy, ancient, unthinkable, thinkable, emotional, rhyme, meter, alliteration, pleasure, metaphor and 196 more...
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ff
attribute, sticking, distinct, perseverance, trend, clarify, avoidant, ambivalent, disoriented, cling, prompting, appositive and 94 more...
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SAT PSAT ALPHABETICAL I
iconoclast, idiosyncrasy, ignoble, ignominious, illicit, illusory, illustrious, imbibe, imbue, immaculate, immaterial, immolate and 155 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 1984 more...
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Sat Vocabulary List
abandon, abash, abate, abjure, ablution, abnegate, abominable, aboriginal, abortive, abrade, abridge, abrogate and 2155 more...
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Part of the daily vocabulary
languish, liaison, indispensable, avow, mnemonic, euphonic, de rigueur, eschew, behemoth, circumvent, ephemeral
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UGS303
encompass, indigenous, clerical, ambivalent, insurgency, ombudsman, thematic, swift, indispensable, paradox, pragmatic
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Day Words
cabazitaxel, investor, dosh, portfolio, transparency, estrangement, pantomime, symposium, nub, compartmentalise, crude, sarcastic and 42 more...
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OrbitalCombustion's Words
nepenthe, phrontistery, peregrination, pervicacious, sinistrality, phallogocentric, prolixity, leptokurtic, ineffable, haecceity, lucubration, vicissitudes and 1026 more...
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Words from The Brothers Karamazov
Vocabulary words.
sententiously, mutton, eunuch, anathema, casuistry, imperturbably, forerunner, birch, torpor, precipice, bravado, insolent and 74 more...
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phil vocab 1
utility, privation, hedonism, creed, inveterate, contemptuous, swine, ascribe, ignoramus, appellation, assailant, imputation and 38 more...
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