indispensability

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the quality of being absolutely necessary and impossible to do without

   The crisis demonstrated the indispensability of reliable public health data.

2. 2
   noun

   a person or thing regarded as indispensable

   She challenged the manager's belief in his own indispensability.

From indispensable + -ity. Indispensable entered English from Medieval Latin indispensabilis, combining in-, 'not,' with dispensabilis, 'able to be dispensed with,' from dispensare, 'to distribute or exempt.'

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