Indispensable

How to spell indispensable

13 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce indispensable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does indispensable mean?

1. adjectiveAbsolutely necessary; too important to do without.

Indispensable in a sentence

• A reliable assistant quickly became indispensable to the busy office.

• Clean water is indispensable for any long hike in the mountains.

Where does indispensable come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb dispensare, meaning 'to weigh out' or 'to distribute', which was a frequentative form of dispendere, built from dis- 'apart' and pendere 'to weigh' or 'to pay'. From dispensare English eventually drew 'dispense', the act of dealing something out or doing without it. Medieval Latin formed indispensabilis by adding the negative prefix in- and the suffix -abilis, giving the sense of something that cannot be set aside or done without. English adopted indispensable through French in the early 1600s, originally in church law for an obligation from which no one could be excused, before settling into its modern meaning of absolutely essential. The tricky spelling, with its -able ending rather than -ible and its tidy stack of prefixes in-, dis-, comes straight from that Latin assembly, so remembering 'not dispensable' keeps the parts in order.

How the word is built

• in- (not)
• dis- (apart, away)
• pens (from Latin pendere: to weigh out, pay)
• -able (capable of being)