If you say that someone or something is indispensable, you mean that they are absolutely essential and other people or things cannot functionwithout them.
She was becoming indispensable to him. [+ to]
...the indispensable guide for any traveller in France.
Synonyms: essential, necessary, needed, key More Synonyms of indispensable
indispensable in British English
(ˌɪndɪˈspɛnsəbəl)
adjective
1.
absolutely necessary; essential
2.
not to be disregarded or escaped
an indispensable role
noun
3.
an indispensable person or thing
Derived forms
indispensability (ˌindisˌpensaˈbility) or indispensableness (ˌindisˈpensableness)
noun
indispensably (ˌindisˈpensably)
adverb
indispensable in American English
(ˌɪndɪˈspɛnsəbəl)
adjective
1.
that cannot be dispensed with or neglected
2.
absolutely necessary or required
noun
3.
an indispensable person or thing
SIMILAR WORDS: esˈsential
Derived forms
noun
indispensably (ˌindisˈpensably)
adverb
Examples of 'indispensable' in a sentence
indispensable
They have become as indispensable to 21st century criminals as skeleton keys were to their forebears.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Few would dispute that mobile phones are an indispensable business tool.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Leadership traits are one important part of that indispensable art.
Christianity Today (2000)
Offer to make those things yourself and you become indispensable.
The Sun (2011)
Each player is important and no one is indispensable.
The Sun (2012)
For him food is merely an indispensable means of subsistence.
The Sun (2009)
It is not an indispensable part of greatness.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
For they have become the indispensable actor in world affairs.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
For that reason she is probably an indispensable part of any solution to the present crisis.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
America is still the indispensable nation.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
The library will have three copies of a text considered indispensable to 1,000 students.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Today remains the indispensable soundtrack to all that activity for some 6m people.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
And because tools were indispensable, they argued that capital was indispensable.
Hunt, E. K. Property and Prophets: The Evolution of Economic Institutions and Ideologies (1995)
The indispensable nation 's status has been redrawn by the unavoidable burden of debt.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Few can predict the future, but radio will remain indispensable.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
There is one indispensable thing that cannot be imported: government.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
My addiction has intensified over time, and hats have become indispensable to my life and work.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
The mobile phone is the one indispensable must-have of the diaspora.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
We can all play an indispensable role in ensuring that the networks women are forging across Africa have global reach.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Our alliance will remain indispensable to the goal of a century that is more peaceful, more prosperous and more just.
The Sun (2011)
What we really need are the eight or nine indispensable or essential amino acids, which are the "building blocks" of protein.
Kowalski, Robert E The 8-Week Cholesterol Cure (1990)
FOR the busy mayor of a capital city, a bicycle is an indispensable tool of survival.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Although he says nobody is indispensable, he pretty much is Reiss.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Is it a major, essential, indispensable contribution?
Peter F. Drucker THE ESSENTIAL DRUCKER (2001)
We are still essentially, as has been said before, the indispensable nation.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
In other languages
indispensable
British English: indispensable /ˌɪndɪˈspɛnsəbl/ ADJECTIVE
If someone or something is indispensable, they are absolutely essential and other people or things cannot function without them.