Sacrificable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Capable of being given up or destroyed for the sake of something considered more important or valuable
2. Able to be relinquished or destroyed in favor of a higher priority or value
3. Suitable for being surrendered or discarded for the pursuit of something deemed more significant or beneficial

Etymology: "Sacrifice" comes from Old French "sacrifice," which traces back to Latin "sacrificium," a compound of "sacer" (holy) and "facere" (to make or do), so the original sense was literally "making holy." The "-able" ending is a suffix meaning "capable of being," attached here to "sacrifice" to form an adjective. Because "-able" can join almost any verb to describe what can be done to it, "sacrificable" is a plain, transparent formation rather than a word with a dramatic backstory. The word's meaning follows from its parts: something sacrificable is something that can be given up or destroyed for a greater good. Its literal ancestry lingers in the idea of setting something apart for a higher purpose, so the modern sense of surrendering a thing for a cause retains the older religious flavor of offering something to the sacred.

Synonyms: expendable, replaceable, disposable, surrenderable, forfeitable

Antonyms: indispensable, essential, necessary, critical, vital