dispense with

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English

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Verb

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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.
    • 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.