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Glite Dictionary
🥩 Not essential 👜 A luxury item
nonstaple

nonstaple

7.1
Not a basic food or thing people need every day
  • adjective
  • /nɒnˈsteɪpəl/
translation icon : 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
7.4

A thing you do not need

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

Antonyms

necessity
274 2.0

A thing you need to live, like food or water

staple
82 3.0

A basic food or product people use often

How Staple

essential
50 2.4
staple
82 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.