different between indispensable vs momentous

English

Etymology

From Middle French indispensable, from Medieval Latin indispensabilis, corresponding to in- +? dispensable.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?nd??sp?ns?b?l/

Adjective

indispensable (comparative more indispensable, superlative most indispensable)

1. (ecclesiastical, obsolete) Not admitting ecclesiastical dispensation; not subject to release or exemption; that cannot be allowed by bending the canonical rules. [16th-17th c.]
2. (of duties, rules etc.) Unbendable, that cannot be set aside or ignored. [from 17th c.]

   The law was moral and indispensable. -Bp. Burnet

3. Absolutely necessary or requisite; that one cannot do without. [from 17th c.]

   An indispensable component of a heart-healthy diet.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:requisite

Antonyms

• dispensable

Derived terms

• indispensability
• indispensableness
• indispensably

Translations

Noun

indispensable (plural indispensables)

1. A thing that is not dispensable; a necessity. [from 17th c.]
2. (in the plural, colloquial, dated) Trousers. [from 19th c.]

Catalan

Adjective

indispensable (masculine and feminine plural indispensables)

1. indispensable

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.dis.p??.sabl/

Adjective

indispensable (plural indispensables)

1. indispensable

Further reading

• “indispensable” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /indispen?sable/, [?n?.d?is.p?n?sa.??le]

Adjective

indispensable (plural indispensables)

1. indispensable

English

Etymology

From moment +? -ous.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /m???m?n.t?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /mo??m?n.t?s/
• Rhymes: -?nt?s

Adjective

momentous (comparative more momentous, superlative most momentous)

1. Outstanding in importance, of great consequence.
   • 1725, Daniel Defoe, Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business:

     The reason why I did not publish this book till the end of the last sessions of parliament was, because I did not care to interfere with more momentous affairs.

   • 1831, James Fenimore Cooper, Homeward Bound, ch. 31:

     "It has been a momentous month, and I hope we shall all retain healthful recollections of it as long as we live."

   • 1902, Joseph Conrad, The End of the Tether, ch. 3:

     What to the other parties was merely the sale of a ship was to him a momentous event involving a radically new view of existence.

   • 2007 July 1, Richard Dawkins, "Inferior Design," New York Times (retrieved 19 Nov 2013):

     Natural selection is arguably the most momentous idea ever to occur to a human mind, because it — alone as far as we know — explains the elegant illusion of design that pervades the living kingdoms and explains, in passing, us.

Derived terms

• momentously
• momentousness

Translations

Anagrams

• mesonotum