dispensaˈbility
[f. next + -ity.]
The quality of being dispensable. a. Capability of being dispensed or made the subject of ecclesiastical dispensation. b. Capability of being dispensed with or done without.
| a. 1650 R. Hollingworth Exerc. Usurped Powers 43 Quoting a Doctor of the Papacy for the dispensabilitie of an oath. 1837–9 Hallam Hist. Lit. iv. iii. §23 [They] deny..the dispensability of the decalogue in any part. 1881 Stubbs Med. & Mod. Hist. xii. (1886) 284 The theologians disputed as to the dispensability of a marriage with a brother's widow. |
| b. 1883 R. Broughton Belinda III. iii. ix. 81 Weighing the dispensability or indispensability as a travelling companion of each [book]. |