expendable

[ik-spen-duh-buhl]

adjective

1. capable of being expended.

2. (of an item of equipment or supply) consumed in use or not reusable.

3. considered to be not worth keeping or maintaining.

4. Military.,  (of personnel, equipment, or supplies) capable of being sacrificed in order to accomplish a military objective.

noun

1. Usually expendables. an expendable person or thing.

expendable

/ ɪkˈspɛndəbəl /

adjective

1. that may be expended or used up

2. not essential; not worth preserving

3. able to be sacrificed to achieve an objective, esp a military one

noun

1. something that is expendable

Other Word Forms

• expendability noun
• nonexpendable adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of expendable¹

First recorded in 1795–1805; expend + -able

Example Sentences

There are no human characters in “Badlands,” only expendable mechanical representatives of a megacorporation bent on bringing the known universe to heel.

Read more on Salon

“They’re afraid if they do that, the boss, whoever he or she is, will consider them less productive or therefore more expendable,” he says.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

CEO Lourenco Goncalves says his inability to acquire US Steel and pair the plant’s output with US Steel’s new Big River steel mill in Arkansas leaves the iron ore plant expendable.

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Scam centre staff run the "whole gamut", from expendable grunts held in slave-like conditions to skilled programmers working for high salaries, said veteran Myanmar expert David Scott Mathieson, a former Human Rights Watch monitor.

Read more on Barron's

It’s an assault on environmental justice that tells Californians their health is expendable.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• disposable 
• superfluous 
• unimportant