How to Use nonessential in a Sentence

nonessential

adjective
  • All nonessential personnel had to be laid off.
  • Please avoid all nonessential uses of water.
  • But the border has been closed to nonessential travel since March 2020.
    Gene Johnson, Star Tribune, 29 June 2021
  • When the city shut down all nonessential businesses, he was laid off.
    New York Times, 3 Dec. 2021
  • The border is set to remain closed to nonessential travel through at least June 21.
    Joe Yogerst, CNN, 16 June 2021
  • Inna spent a moment thinking about a nonessential item to bring.
    Ed Caesar, The New Yorker, 20 June 2022
  • The virus increased the risk of death among nonessential workers by only 11 percent.
    NBC News, 31 Aug. 2021
  • This is a good time to put off any larger, nonessential purchases.
    Alicia Adamczyk, Fortune, 22 June 2022
  • The island's beaches and nonessential shops have been ordered closed.
    Meena Thiruvengadam, Travel + Leisure, 12 Aug. 2021
  • Finally, there’s a low power mode, like the iPhone’s, that shuts off nonessential features and extends the watch’s battery life to up to 36 hours.
    Nicole Nguyen, WSJ, 15 Sep. 2022
  • Land borders will also reopen early next month for nonessential travel, the first time that will be the case in 19 months.
    Karen Kaplan Science and Medicine Editor, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2021
  • The border between Canada and the U.S. remains closed to all nonessential travel.
    Rob Gillies, USA TODAY, 21 June 2021
  • The mine continued to produce gold until 1943, when it was deemed nonessential to the World War II effort and ordered to shut down.
    Loren Holmes, Anchorage Daily News, 9 Aug. 2022
  • Brussels also wants to end the EU's safe-country list for nonessential travel.
    Arkansas Online, 26 Nov. 2021
  • Some 21% of the people who are in the paycheck-to-paycheck situation say nonessential spending is to blame.
    Bychris Morris, Fortune, 31 Aug. 2023
  • But when the pandemic forced nonessential businesses to close in mid-March 2020, Stack locked her D.C. studio and let the lease expire.
    John D. Harden, Washington Post, 24 May 2022
  • The United States told its nonessential staff and their family members at the Shanghai consulate to leave.
    Jack Kelly, Forbes, 12 Apr. 2022
  • Officials asked residents to avoid all nonessential travel during the peak of the storm.
    Laura L. Davis, USA TODAY, 12 Jan. 2023
  • One is to drop all nonessential activities and just read my little brains out.
    John Warner, chicagotribune.com, 16 Aug. 2021
  • Kalach’s main goal was to dispense with anything nonessential to resting, reading or staring at the ocean.
    Suleman Anaya Fabian Martinez, New York Times, 20 Sep. 2023
  • Canada reopened its borders to nonessential travel from the U.S. this month.
    Eve Chen, USA TODAY, 31 Aug. 2021
  • The agency also says not to burn leaves or yard clippings and to avoid using fireplaces or fire pits for nonessential reasons.
    Victoria Moorwood, The Enquirer, 13 June 2022
  • Sales have weakened this year as consumers pare back on purchases of nonessential items.
    Ruth Simon, WSJ, 22 May 2022
  • In Tianjin, like in many cities, residents have been ordered not to leave for nonessential travel.
    Washington Post, 16 Mar. 2022
  • Officials asked nonessential travelers to stay away from the area.
    Libor Jany, Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr. 2024
  • The European Union agreed last week to let countries lift restrictions on nonessential travel from the U.S.
    Scott McCartney, WSJ, 23 June 2021
  • Over time, the Voyager team has commanded the probes to turn off instrument heaters and other nonessential systems.
    Ashley Strickland, CNN, 10 May 2023
  • When the pandemic hit last March and states began to shut down nonessential businesses, the outlook looked pretty doom and gloom.
    Howard Hook, Forbes, 23 June 2021
  • Their experts recommend turning off all nonessential lighting between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. on nights when the birds are flying overhead.
    Joseph Hernandez, Kansas City Star, 16 May 2024
  • Saturday’s strike was called by the country’s largest group of doctors, the Indian Medical Assn., saying all nonessential services at hospitals would be shut down across the country for 24 hours.
    Sheikh Saaliq, Los Angeles Times, 17 Aug. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nonessential.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: