expendable
Americanadjective
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capable of being expended.
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(of an item of equipment or supply) consumed in use or not reusable.
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considered to be not worth keeping or maintaining.
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Military. (of personnel, equipment, or supplies) capable of being sacrificed in order to accomplish a military objective.
noun
adjective
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that may be expended or used up
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not essential; not worth preserving
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able to be sacrificed to achieve an objective, esp a military one
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of expendable
Explanation
Anything expendable is not necessary — it can be done without. If you lose or use expendable funds, you won't miss the money. None of us wants to be called expendable — that means we could be replaced. If a football team isn't worried about certain players leaving for another team, then those players are expendable: they won't be missed and won't disrupt things if they leave. In war, some people are considered more expendable than others: a soldier is more expendable than a general, because there are far fewer generals. In any country, the least expendable person is the president or other leader of the nation. That's why they get so much protection from their security guards, who are considered much more expendable.
Vocabulary lists containing expendable
Power Suffix: -able
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"A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury
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Born a Crime
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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.
"Punters don't have the expendable income they once had," he says.
From BBC • Apr. 24, 2026
Atacms stands for Army Tactical Missile System, while Himars is an acronym for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, an Army truck that carries expendable pods of rockets or missiles.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026
The man from the future doesn’t have a plan — and worse, he considers himself the only person who isn’t expendable.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 12, 2026
The people in stories like these are designed to be expendable through the film’s ensuing events, fodder for the chills and thrills.
From Salon • Jan. 31, 2026
They were stowaways now, and stowaways were expendable.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
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.
