If you regard someone or something as expendable, you think it is acceptable to get rid of them, abandon them, or allow them to be destroyed when they are no longer needed.
[formal]
Once our services cease to be useful to them, we're expendable.
During the recession, training budgets were seen as an expendable luxury.
...an expendable rocket.
Synonyms: dispensable, unnecessary, unimportant, replaceable More Synonyms of expendable
expendable in British English
(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
4.
something that is expendable
Derived forms
expendability (exˌpendaˈbility)
noun
expendable in American English
(ɛkˈspɛndəbəl; ɪkˈspɛndəbəl)
adjective
1.
that can be expended
2. Military
designating or of equipment or personnel considered worth sacrificing to achieve an objective
3.
designating or of a person or thing regarded as worth sacrificing under particularcircumstances
noun
4.
a person or thing considered expendable
Derived forms
expendability (exˌpendaˈbility)
noun
Examples of 'expendable' in a sentence
expendable
She was a small and expendable part of it, to be deleted when, as now, his time was full.
Skelton, Alison Scott AN OLDER WOMAN
So I was found to be expendable and sincere apologies were made to all concerned.
(adjective)
Definition
able to be sacrificed to achieve an objective, esp. a military one
Once we're of no more use to them, we're expendable.
Synonyms
dispensable
These resources are dispensable.
unnecessary
The slaughter of whales is unnecessary and inhuman.
unimportant
It was an unimportant job, and paid very little.
replaceable
nonessential
inessential
We judged footnotes inessential to the text.
Opposites
necessary
,
essential
,
vital
,
crucial
,
indispensable
,
key
Additional synonyms
in the sense of inessential
Definition
not necessary
We judged footnotes inessential to the text.
Synonyms
unnecessary,
redundant,
superfluous,
spare,
surplus,
optional,
needless,
extraneous,
extrinsic,
uncalled-for,
dispensable
in the sense of unimportant
Definition
trivial or insignificant
It was an unimportant job, and paid very little.
Synonyms
insignificant,
minor,
petty,
trivial,
slight,
irrelevant,
worthless,
trifling,
paltry,
immaterial,
inconsequential,
low-ranking,
of no consequence,
nickel-and-dime (US, slang),
of no account,
nugatory,
not worth mentioning,
of no moment
in the sense of unnecessary
Definition
not essential, or more than is essential
The slaughter of whales is unnecessary and inhuman.