Indifferent vs Indispensable - What's the difference?
indifferent | indispensable |
Not caring or concerned; uninterested, apathetic.
Mediocre, usually used negatively in modern usage.
* Sir Walter Scott
Having no preference or bias, being impartial.
* Addison
Not making a difference; without significance or importance.
* Shakespeare
* Jeremy Taylor
* Nathaniel Hawthorne
(mechanics) Being in the state of neutral equilibrium.
(obsolete) To some extent, in some degree (intermediate between very'' and ''not at all ); moderately, tolerably, fairly.
(ecclesiastical, obsolete) Not admitting ecclesiastical dispensation; not subject to release or exemption; that cannot be allowed by bending the canonical rules.
Absolutely necessary or requisite; that one cannot do without.
* {{quote-book, year=2006, author=
, title=Internal Combustion
, chapter=2 A thing that is not dispensable; a necessity.
(in the plural, colloquial, dated) Trousers.
----
As a verb indifferent
is .As an adjective indispensable is
(ecclesiastical|obsolete) not admitting ecclesiastical dispensation; not subject to release or exemption; that cannot be allowed by bending the canonical rules.As a noun indispensable is
a thing that is not dispensable; a necessity.indifferent
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- He was indifferent to the proposal, since it didn't affect him, either way.
- The long distance and the indifferent roads made the journey impossible.
- The performance of Blue Jays has been '''indifferent'' this season.
- The staterooms are in indifferent order.
- ''I am indifferent between the two plans.
- indifferent in his choice to sleep or die
- Even if one appliance consumes an indifferent amount of energy when left on stand-by overnight, together they can represent 10% of the electricity demand of a household.
- Dangers are to me indifferent .
- Everything in the world is indifferent but sin.
- His slightest and most indifferent acts were odious in the clergyman's sight.
Quotations
* , act 4, scene 1: *: Let their heads be sleekly combed their blue coats brushed and their garters of an indifferent knitAdverb
- The face of the Moon appearing to me to be full of indifferent high mountains...
Usage notes
* Now obsolete, but very common c. 1600-1730.References
* ----indispensable
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- The law was moral and indispensable . -Bp. Burnet
- An indispensable component of a heart-healthy diet.
citation, passage=But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries. By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tilemakers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other craftsmen all became hour-to-hour consumers of charcoal. This only magnified the indispensable nature of the oligopolists.}}