dispense with
Idioms-
Manage without, forgo, as in We can dispense with the extra help . Shakespeare had this idiom in Timon of Athens (3:2): “Men must learn now with pity to dispense.” [c. 1600]
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Get rid of, do away with, as in The European Union is trying to dispense with tariff barriers . [Late 1500s]
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Exempt one from a law, promise, or obligation, as in He asked the court to dispense with swearing on the Bible . This usage originally applied to religious obligations (to which the Pope granted dispensation ). [Early 1500s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As the United States Supreme Court explained in 1942, the Sixth Amendment right to the assistance of counsel implicitly embodies a “correlative right to dispense with a lawyer’s help.”
From Slate • Apr. 20, 2026
He says it’s time to dispense with cocktail-party niceties about AI.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 12, 2026
Customers are increasingly being lured by brands like TimberTech, which dispense with wood altogether in favor of polyvinyl chloride patterned to resemble mahogany, teak, or hickory.
From Barron's • Nov. 7, 2025
In December 1927, it cautioned young women "to become a good cook before you marry, darling. Then you will be competent to rebuke a staff of domestics or to dispense with one".
From BBC • Apr. 15, 2025
Artists will usually dispense with aids like perspective and rely on their own eyes.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
