🥩 Not essential 👜 A luxury item

nonstaple

7.1

Not a basic food or thing people need every day

adjective
/nɒnˈsteɪpəl/

: no básico

Many people enjoy nonstaple foods like gourmet cheese and exotic fruits during special occasions.

Examples

The store specializes in nonstaple items such as seasonal decorations and novelty gifts.
The drop-off reached 2 percent annually in the mid- and late 1970s, a rate far exceeding those of nonstaple agricultural products (Alvarez 1983, 324).

Academic text (1991)
During the meeting, they discussed the impact of nonstaple exports on the country's economy.

Synonyms

nonessential

vsnonstaple

1 5.6

A thing that is not needed

is used for items lacking basic status especially in diet or trade

inessential

vsnonstaple

1 5.5

A thing you do not need and can leave behind

is limited to items not basic in diet or trade rather than general unimportance

nonnecessity

vsnonstaple

1 7.4

A thing you do not need

is applied to products lacking basic status especially in food or trade

Antonyms

necessity

227 2.0

A thing you need to live, like food or water

staple

63 3.0

A basic food or product people use often

How Staple

essential

49 2.4

staple

63 3.0

nonstaple

7.1

Surface Forms

nonstaple positive

Morphology

nonstaple = staple (transparent) = non + staple

The negative prefix 'non-' productively negates the base 'staple', so learners who know both parts can infer 'not a staple'.

Etymology

Nonstaple is made from the parts non- 'not' and staple 'a basic or main item'. So calling a food or product nonstaple means it is not essential for daily life, like meat or sweets rather than rice or bread.