Oil and other expendable resources are frequently the subject of military disputes.
2
Designed for a single use; not reusable.
The anti-aircraft rocket is fired from an expendable launch platform.
3
Not essential or mandatory in order to achieve a goal.
The research department was deemed expendable, and its funding was not renewed.
4
Regarded as not worth preserving or saving; able to be sacrificed.
In the internecine rivalries of large corporations, whole departments may become expendable in the execution of one executive's power play.
He was expendable, like commodities past their use.1997, G. Cajetan Luna, Youths Living with HIV: Self-Evident Truths, page 10:
1 more example
The Taunton-Minehead line (now managed by the West Somerset Railway) was considered much more expendable.2020 April 8, Howard Johnston, “East-ended? When the ECML was at risk”, in Rail, page 69: