reusable

British  

/ riːˈjuːzəbəl /

adjective

1. able to be used more than once

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Explanation

Something is reusable if it can be used more than once. Since you can wash a cloth napkin after you use it, it is reusable. Toilet paper? Not reusable. Many cities now encourage shoppers to bring their own reusable bags to stores, instead of having groceries and other goods put in plastic bags that are usually thrown away after a single use. Reusable is a word you'll often see alongside words like recyclable, renewable, or sustainable, in an environmentally conscious context. It comes from the "again" prefix re- and usable.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

reusable

Actual pants, made from the grocery store’s reusable bags.

From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026

If successful, it would mark a step toward a fully reusable rocket system, which would drastically lower launch costs and speed up the deployment of next-generation infrastructure.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026

Recovering Starship with the help of a launch tower’s “chopstick” arms is key to making the vehicle rapidly reusable.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026

But immense technical challenges remain before Starship -- which Musk hopes to make fully reusable -- can be considered ready for commercial flights or to reach the Moon or Mars.

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

And in her hand is a reusable grocery tote bag.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy