Nautical. a stout pole such as those used for masts, etc.; a mast, yard, boom, gaff, or the like.
Aeronautics. a principal lateral member of the framework of a wing of an airplane.
(of boxers) to make the motions of attack and defense with the arms and fists, especially as a part of training.
to box, especially with light blows.
to strike or attack with the feet or spurs, as gamecocks do.
to bandy words; dispute.
a motion of sparring.
a boxing match.
a dispute.
boxing martial arts to fight using light blows, as in training
to dispute or argue
(of gamecocks) to fight with the feet or spurs
an unaggressive fight
an argument or wrangle
informal a close friend
any piece of nautical gear resembling a pole and used as a mast, boom, gaff, etc
( as modifier )
a spar buoy
a principal supporting structural member of an aerofoil that runs from tip to tip or root to tip
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English spar(r)e, sperre, sper “a board, rafter, beam”; cognate with German Sparren, Dutch, Frisian spar, Old Norse sparri
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English spar(r)en “to go quickly, rush, dart, thrust”; further origin unknown
First recorded in 1575–85; from Middle Low German spar, sper; akin to Old English spær(stān) “gypsum, chalk”
1942; < Latin S ( emper ) par ( ātus ) “Always ready” the Coast Guard motto
If you spar with someone, you exchange light blows — either literally by punching each other, or figuratively by exchanging verbal blows. If you box, you might spar with an opponent at the gym while you're training. You don't strike too hard — it’s just practice. Similarly, if you spar with words, you typically do it playfully and without anger. You might repeatedly spar with your mom about who makes the best meatloaf, but it’s all in good fun. Spar is also the name of a rigging pole, as well as of some light minerals like calcite, that you can cut through.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
An Irish boxer has said Kendrick Lamar is welcome to spar with him anytime at his home gym.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
The 26th president, Teddy Roosevelt, regularly invited professional boxers, military aides and guests to the executive mansion to spar, at least until he suffered a detached retina.
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2026
Throughout the tense exchange in Justice Samuel Alito’s concurrence and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent, they spar over when the clock of the rule of law should start and stop.
From Slate ● May 5, 2026
It is common for justices to spar in their written opinions, and they sometimes expound on their legal disagreements in speeches or interviews.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
She keeps her right fist clenched around a spar of the open gate.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
It was joined by BWG Foods, which said the products were no longer listed for distribution across its network of SPAR, EUROSPAR, MACE, Londis and XL stores.
From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2024
So in World War II, she enlisted as a SPAR, becoming the first African American woman in the Coast Guard.
From Time ● May 20, 2015
That has grown into Aerojet-General, a subsidiary that turns out Polaris, Minuteman and Titan rocket motors and a cigar-shaped, 354-ft. ocea-nographical research vessel called the SPAR, which bobs in the seas in a vertical position.
From Time Magazine Archive
So please to wait For thoughts that crop, En tete-a-tete, On mountain top, May not exactly tally With those that you May entertain, Returning to The sober plain Of yon relaxing valley SPAR.
From The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan by Gilbert, W. S. (William Schwenck), Sir
Some mighty kind, I dare say, with wealth beyond all counting who came to live up here— SPAR.
From The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan by Gilbert, W. S. (William Schwenck), Sir
Have Anthropic and the Trump administration sparred before?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
For more than 15 years he has trained under Peter Fury and sparred Tyson Fury, Dillian Whyte and UFC champion Tom Aspinall.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
In an extraordinary scene, the two presidents sparred on national television about the usually off-limits subjects of human rights and the Tiananmen crackdown.
From Barron's ● May 15, 2026
A former world kickboxing champion who came to the Palisades from the Florida Panhandle in 1982, Blanck has sparred with boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard and trained actors Tom Hanks and Steve Guttenberg.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026
I could tell by the narrow line of Maxim’s mouth, and I wondered if brothers and sisters always sparred like this, making it uncomfortable for those who listened.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
As he was sparring with Whoopi Goldberg on ABC's The View, Trump was meeting with world leaders at the G7 summit in the French resort town of Évian-les-Bains.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026
Vietnam and China have a history of sparring over the South China Sea, or the East Sea as Vietnam calls it.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
Democratic and Republican candidates vying to replace Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom have been sparring on televised debates and exchanging campaign attacks since April to garner the attention of voters statewide.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2026
After weeks of verbal sparring, the U.S. announced that it was sending Rubio to Rome later this week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
The Sisters were assembled for their morning meditation—an hour of silence, followed by singing, followed by a quick sparring session.
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
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.
