dispensable

/dəˈspɛnsəbəl/

/dɪˈspɛnsɪbəl/

Something that's dispensable isn't necessary — you don't really need it. Your vintage typewriter is cool, but it's also dispensable, since you can type and print with your laptop.

If robots are invented to do most of the jobs in the world, human workers will become dispensable, or unneeded. Likewise, many home chefs might insist that if you have a really good, sharp knife, other tools like peelers and choppers and food processors are completely dispensable. The earliest definition of this word was "subject to dispensation," from the Latin dispensare, "disburse or distribute," although by the 1640s dispensable meant "that which can be done without."

Definitions of dispensable

1. adjective

   capable of being dispensed with or done without
   “dispensable items of personal property”

   synonyms:

   unnecessary, unneeded

   not necessary

   antonyms:

   indispensable

   not to be dispensed with; essential

   critical, vital

   urgently needed; absolutely necessary

   necessary

   absolutely essential