dispense with

English

Verb

dispense with (third-person singular simple present dispenses with, present participle dispensing with, simple past and past participle dispensed with)

1. (transitive) To eliminate or do without.

   I wish he would dispense with the pleasantries and get to the point.

   • 1954 February, “Notes and News: Deviation at Bramwith”, in Railway Magazine, page 137:

     When the scheme is completed, the 99-year-old swing bridge over the canal will be dispensed with as the new bridge will have sufficient height to allow clearance for the passage of canal traffic.

   • 2011, Roy F. Baumeister, John Tierney, Willpower, →ISBN, pages 200–201:

     You might learn, for instance, that table manners can be dispensed with at restaurants, because the grown-ups are too embarrassed to discipline you in public.