dispensability
- noun
- /dɪˌspɛnsəˈbɪlɪti/
- The study highlighted the dispensability of minor team members in achieving the project goals.
Examples
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In modern workplaces, the dispensability of traditional roles often leads to a broader range of responsibilities.
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Second, it engendered among Africans a sense of alienation and dispensability.
Academic text (1998) -
Many believe in the dispensability of certain social conventions, arguing they are not essential to happiness.
Synonyms
The idea that something can be used up or replaced and is not needed
The fact that something is not needed
Being more than what is needed
A situation where something is not needed
A thing or situation that is not needed
Being easily replaced and treated as unimportant
Antonyms
How Dispensable
Surface Forms
Morphology
dispensability = dispensable (semi-transparent) = dispense + able + ity
The derivation from 'dispensable' + '-ity' is regular, but 'dispensable' itself relies on the phrasal sense 'dispense with' (to do without), so learners who only know 'dispense' as 'give out' may not infer it.
Etymology
Dispensability comes from the verb dispense, which meant 'to give out' and appears in the phrase 'dispense with' meaning 'to do without'. So, dispensability is the quality of being something you can let go of or 'do without'.