Able to be done without; not strictly necessary or important.
From Latin 'dispensare' (to distribute, dispense) plus '-able' suffix meaning capable of. Originally meant 'able to be dispensed with'.
During the pandemic, the phrase 'essential vs. dispensable workers' created painful real-world divisions—but 'dispensable' was originally a neutral term for things that could simply be left out.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.