How to Use nonessential in a Sentence

nonessential

adjective
  • All nonessential personnel had to be laid off.
  • Please avoid all nonessential uses of water.
  • When the city shut down all nonessential businesses, he was laid off.
    — New York Times, 3 Dec. 2021
  • Outsource one nonessential task.
    — Christine Michel Carter, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2025
  • Madrid and some areas in Spain have ruled out nonessential travel.
    — Jay Heflin, Washington Examiner, 29 Oct. 2020
  • This is a good time to put off any larger, nonessential purchases.
    — Alicia Adamczyk, Fortune, 22 June 2022
  • Inna spent a moment thinking about a nonessential item to bring.
    — Ed Caesar, The New Yorker, 20 June 2022
  • That’s slowed a bit since both countries banned nonessential travel in March.
    — Jonathan Wosen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Aug. 2020
  • But in March, the border was shut to nonessential travel and all that ground to a halt.
    — Ben Harris, sun-sentinel.com, 9 Sep. 2020
  • City Hall has also frozen most nonessential spending.
    — Center Square, The Washington Examiner, 10 Dec. 2025
  • In red zones, nonessential businesses were again required to close.
    — Gregory Barber, Wired, 12 Oct. 2020
  • The island's beaches and nonessential shops have been ordered closed.
    — Meena Thiruvengadam, Travel + Leisure, 12 Aug. 2021
  • One is to drop all nonessential activities and just read my little brains out.
    — John Warner, chicagotribune.com, 16 Aug. 2021
  • Sales have weakened this year as consumers pare back on purchases of nonessential items.
    — Ruth Simon, WSJ, 22 May 2022
  • Come next week, people will be allowed to return to gyms, nonessential shops, and pub gardens.
    — Yasmeen Serhan, The Atlantic, 7 Apr. 2021
  • The coronavirus pandemic forced nonessential stores across the city to close for months.
    — Roland Li, SFChronicle.com, 13 Jan. 2021
  • Schools in both states are closed until at least mid-April, while nonessential businesses are shut down.
    — Keshia Clukey, Bloomberg.com, 10 May 2020
  • Why are workers being called back for nonessential work in the middle of a pandemic?
    — The New Republic, 13 Jan. 2021
  • Starting Wednesday, all nonessential stores, schools, and hairdressers will have to close.
    — Harold Maass, TheWeek, 14 Dec. 2020
  • The staff who run the live animal feeds are considered nonessential, the zoo's website says.
    — Francesca Chambers, USA Today, 11 Oct. 2025
  • 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
  • The new stay-at-home order prohibits hotel use for tourism, leisure and other nonessential reasons.
    — Lyndsay Winkley, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Dec. 2020
  • The border is set to remain closed to nonessential travel through at least June 21.
    — Joe Yogerst, CNN, 16 June 2021
  • All bridges and roads will be closed to nonessential traffic, aiming to keep residents off the streets during the storm.
    — Brandi D. Addison, USA Today, 22 Feb. 2026
  • The virus increased the risk of death among nonessential workers by only 11 percent.
    — NBC News, 31 Aug. 2021
  • But the border has been closed to nonessential travel since March 2020.
    — Gene Johnson, Star Tribune, 29 June 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
  • In Germany, even as many nonessential stores opened last week for the first time in months, health officials called for caution.
    — New York Times, 15 Mar. 2021
  • Officials asked residents to avoid all nonessential travel during the peak of the storm.
    — Laura L. Davis, USA TODAY, 12 Jan. 2023
  • Target is known for its trendier items, and the chain stocks more nonessential merchandise than its competitors.
    — Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Money, 20 Aug. 2025

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.

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