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indispensable

UK/ˌɪndɪˈspɛnsəbəl/US/ˌɪndɪˈspɛnsəbəl/
adjectiveB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,304 of 15,258neutral

Indispensable means so necessary that nothing works without it. An indispensable tool, indispensable to the team, absolutely indispensable.

It is a strong claim and usually an overstatement — the graveyards are full of indispensable people, as the saying goes. It takes to or for. Note that dispensable means the opposite and is much rarer; and that the word comes from dispense, in the older sense of granting an exemption — something indispensable is something no exemption can be granted from.

Definitions of indispensable

  1. 1adjectiveindispensableSo necessary that nothing works without it.B2+

    “A good dictionary is indispensable for any language learner.”

    synonyms: essential, vital

indispensable is a quality of necessity.

Also accepted in games: essential

Where it comes from

Medieval Latin indispensabilis is in- plus dispensabilis, from dispensare, to weigh out or grant exemption. Dispensary and dispensation come from the same weighing.

  1. Medieval Latin

    indispensābilis

  2. Middle French

    indispensable

  3. English, today

    indispensable

Middle French indispensable, from Medieval Latin indispensābilis, corresponding to in- + dispensable.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Sharper Adjectives

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indispensable in the wild

  • In modern British houses, an entrance hall next to the front door remains an indispensable feature, even if it is essentially merely a corridor.

    Hall

  • In Western classical music, obbligato usually describes a musical line that is in some way indispensable in performance.

    Obbligato

  • In reality, a party may be "necessary" but not indispensable.

    Indispensable party

  • Often, an indispensable party is any party whose rights are directly affected by disposition of the case.

    Indispensable party

  • Mathematical entities are indispensable to our best scientific theories.

    Quine–Putnam indispensability argument

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.