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.
The concept combines the reusable winged booster from DLR's long running SpaceLiner program with an expendable upper stage.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
But it became obvious that he was expendable as the starting center once the Lakers acquired 24-year-old center Walker Kessler from the Utah Jazz in a sign-and-trade deal worth four years and $130 million.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
It is certainly a dramatic transformation away from expensive big-ticket items like destroyers, towards large numbers of much cheaper and more expendable weapons.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 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
Desiring cheap, expendable labor, colonists imported nearly eight thousand Africans from the western and southern parts of the continent in the mid-1600s.
From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman
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.
