single-use
adjective
sin·gle-use
ˈsiŋ-gəl-ˈyüs 
variants
or less commonly single use
: intended or designed to be used once and then discarded
single-use plastics
single-use paper products
Surgical masks are single-use face coverings that are designed to act as a barrier to sneezes or other potential exchanges of germs.—
Anandi Barker
Anandi BarkerExamples of single-use in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Tokenization replaces PANs with single-use codes tied to specific transactions.
—Kevin Pierce, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Some are reusable, and some are single-use.
—Bestreviews, Mercury News, 11 Sep. 2025
The liners, which can also be used as muffin tins, are a sustainable, plastic-free, and reusable alternative to single-use, throwaway aluminum or paper liners, and can be reused for years to come.
—Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Sep. 2025
Their process uses an inexpensive catalyst that selectively breaks down the most common single-use kind of plastics into liquid oils and waxes that can be upcycled into lubricants and fuels.
—Abhimanyu Ghoshal, New Atlas, 7 Sep. 2025
The designer generously made donations up to 2 million euros to Italy’s Civil Protection and a range of Italian hospitals and institutions in the country, and converted his manufacturing sites to produce single-use smocks for the protection of health-care providers.
—Luisa Zargani, Footwear News, 4 Sep. 2025
In another development, Northwestern University chemists developed a groundbreaking method that skips the time-consuming step of sorting plastics and directly converts stubborn single-use plastics into useful products like fuels, waxes, and lubricants.
—Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 3 Sep. 2025
The resort has incorporated eco-friendly practices, such as replacing single-use water bottles with aluminum in all guest rooms, installing multi-use bath amenity dispensers, and reducing water consumption with high-efficiency toilets and faucets.
—Patricia Doherty, Travel + Leisure, 2 Sep. 2025
The message was simple: if bottles are floating in creeks or scattered across trails, blame yourself — not the companies churning out billions of single-use containers.
—Jim Martin, Denver Post, 27 Aug. 2025
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Kevin Pierce, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Some are reusable, and some are single-use.
—Bestreviews, Mercury News, 11 Sep. 2025
The liners, which can also be used as muffin tins, are a sustainable, plastic-free, and reusable alternative to single-use, throwaway aluminum or paper liners, and can be reused for years to come.
—Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Sep. 2025
Their process uses an inexpensive catalyst that selectively breaks down the most common single-use kind of plastics into liquid oils and waxes that can be upcycled into lubricants and fuels.
—Abhimanyu Ghoshal, New Atlas, 7 Sep. 2025
The designer generously made donations up to 2 million euros to Italy’s Civil Protection and a range of Italian hospitals and institutions in the country, and converted his manufacturing sites to produce single-use smocks for the protection of health-care providers.
—Luisa Zargani, Footwear News, 4 Sep. 2025
In another development, Northwestern University chemists developed a groundbreaking method that skips the time-consuming step of sorting plastics and directly converts stubborn single-use plastics into useful products like fuels, waxes, and lubricants.
—Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 3 Sep. 2025
The resort has incorporated eco-friendly practices, such as replacing single-use water bottles with aluminum in all guest rooms, installing multi-use bath amenity dispensers, and reducing water consumption with high-efficiency toilets and faucets.
—Patricia Doherty, Travel + Leisure, 2 Sep. 2025
The message was simple: if bottles are floating in creeks or scattered across trails, blame yourself — not the companies churning out billions of single-use containers.
—Jim Martin, Denver Post, 27 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Single-use.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/single-use. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
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