spared
Americanadjective
-
left intact; not damaged, punished, destroyed, killed, etc..
After a seven-month siege they captured the city, and the spared captives were taken into exile.
After a brain injury in early childhood, language function is typically transferred to the spared hemisphere.
-
dispensed with or done without.
I finally obtained a little ready money by converting some easily spared articles of jewelry into cash.
-
used frugally or not used; withheld; not spent.
At no spared effort or expense, the enhanced design protocol has been applied to all the products in our new lineup.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of spared
First recorded in 1575–85; spare ( def. ) + -ed 2 ( def. ) for the adjective senses; spare ( def. ) + -ed 1 ( def. ) for the verb sense
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Jeselnik believes his stage persona spared him from that particular crisis of self.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
Still, the West End hasn’t been spared the squeeze as rising costs outpace inflation and compress profit margins.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
About 40,000 of BMW's roughly 85,000 permanent German employees would receive the offers from October, the source said, adding that production line workers would be spared the cuts.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
In Playa Grande, the temblors spared few buildings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
Still, we didn’t know what the symbol was, or how we were spared.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
