spare
Americanverb (used with object)
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spares,
present (3rd person singular)
-
spared,
past participle, past
-
sparing
present participle
-
to refrain from harming or destroying; leave uninjured; forbear to punish, hurt, or destroy.
to spare one's enemy.
-
to deal gently or leniently with; show consideration for.
His harsh criticism spared no one.
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to save from strain, discomfort, embarrassment, or the like, or from a particular cause of it: to spare her needless embarrassment.
to spare him the bother;
to spare her needless embarrassment.
-
to refrain from, forbear, omit, or withhold, as action or speech.
Spare us the gory details.
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to refrain from employing, as some instrument or recourse.
to spare the rod.
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to set aside for a particular purpose.
to spare land for a garden.
- Synonyms:
- reserve
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to give or lend, as from a supply, especially without inconvenience or loss: Can you spare me a dollar till payday?
Can you spare a cup of sugar?
Can you spare me a dollar till payday?
-
to dispense with or do without.
We can't spare a single worker during the rush hour.
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to use economically or frugally; refrain from using up or wasting.
A walnut sundae, and don't spare the whipped cream!
-
to have remaining as excess or surplus.
We can make the curtains and have a yard to spare.
verb (used without object)
-
spares,
present (3rd person singular)
-
spared,
past participle, past
-
sparing
present participle
-
to use economy; be frugal.
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to refrain from inflicting injury or punishment; exercise lenience or mercy.
-
Obsolete. to refrain from action; forbear.
adjective
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sparer,
comparative
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sparest
superlative
-
kept in reserve, as for possible use.
a spare part.
-
being in excess of present need; free for other use.
How do you like to relax in your spare time?
My travel adventures seem to soak up any spare cash I earn.
- Synonyms:
- extra
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frugally restricted or meager, as a manner of living or a diet.
a spare regime.
-
lean or thin, as a person.
-
scanty or scant, as in amount or fullness.
-
economical, moderate, or temperate, as persons; sparing.
noun
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spares
plural
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a spare thing, part, etc., as an extra tire for emergency use.
-
Ceramics. an area at the top of a plaster mold for holding excess slip.
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Bowling.
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the knocking down of all the pins with two bowls.
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a score so made.
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verb
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(tr) to refrain from killing, punishing, harming, or injuring
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(tr) to release or relieve, as from pain, suffering, etc
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(tr) to refrain from using
spare the rod, spoil the child
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(tr) to be able to afford or give
I can't spare the time
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(usually passive) (esp of Providence) to allow to survive
I'll see you again next year if we are spared
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rare (intr) to act or live frugally
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rare (intr) to show mercy
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to exert oneself to the full
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more than is required
two minutes to spare
adjective
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(often immediately postpositive) in excess of what is needed; additional
are there any seats spare?
-
able to be used when needed
a spare part
-
(of a person) thin and lean
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scanty or meagre
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slang (postpositive) upset, angry, or distracted (esp in the phrase go spare )
noun
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a duplicate kept as a replacement in case of damage or loss
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a spare tyre
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tenpin bowling
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the act of knocking down all the pins with the two bowls of a single frame
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the score thus made Compare strike
-
Synonym Usage
See thin.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sparesimple
-
sparessimple
-
have sparedperfect
-
has sparedperfect
-
am sparingprogressive
-
are sparingprogressive
-
is sparingprogressive
-
have been sparingperfect progressive
-
has been sparingperfect progressive
Past
-
sparedsimple
-
had sparedperfect
-
was sparingprogressive
-
were sparingprogressive
-
had been sparingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of spare
First recorded before 900; (verb) Middle English sparen, Old English sparian; cognate with Dutch, German sparen, Old Norse spara; (noun and adjective) Middle English; compare Old English spær “sparing, frugal” (cognate with Old High German spar, Old Norse sparr
Explanation
Spare describes something that is extra. If you have a spare tire for your bike you can replace a flat, and if there's enough change in your pocket you can spare some to patch a friend's tire. As a noun, a verb, and an adjective, the word spare has many meanings. A leftover part is a spare, you can spare a life when you save an animal or person, and you have spare time when you finish a project early. If you "spare no expense" you spend lots of money and when you spare a friend's feelings, you keep upsetting details to yourself. And if you have a moment to spare, you have time to share.
Vocabulary lists containing spare
Vocabulary from the Introduction to "Reality is Broken" by Jane McGonigal
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'Tis A Gift To Be Simple: Words For National Simplicity Day
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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.
See Examples For:
The long-term nature of the leverage will also spare traders from the intense volatility decay experienced from holding leveraged ETFs that see big price swings and that reset daily.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2026
The culture is collaborative, despite fierce competition - evident at last year's championship, when Erbacher offered Callin spare parts after her car was damaged.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
One headwind is a still-structurally weak oil outlook due to recovering Middle East supply, OPEC+ spare capacity and rising non-OPEC+ production, the analyst says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
At least one of Tomlin’s former players is astonished that he was able to construct a sprawling “Minecraft” community in the limited spare time enjoyed by an NFL head coach.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Ella and Brigit ran the entire way to the Vision Tower, arriving without a minute to spare.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
Buying has a certain appeal: It spares you from paying rent and allows you to benefit if housing prices increase.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
The adopted plan also spares, at least for now, changes to the Mesa Linda golf course at the city-owned Costa Mesa Country Club.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
Airlines are forced to fly older planes for longer and need to keep buying spares.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
The pope will arrive by helicopter, a diplomatic subtlety that spares him from landing on French soil without actually visiting France.
From Barron's ● Mar. 25, 2026
Hideo spares me by leaning toward the table.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
Some, I’ve looked at them, and I saw that I want to put more things on the front too,” he continues, looking specifically at one of the sparer pieces near the front of the gallery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2025
Underwater aesthetics are sadly sparer, accentuating the fluorescent marine fauna.
From New York Times ● Jun. 29, 2023
Both Churchill and Zelenskyy inspired with their rhetoric, though Churchill’s words were more grandiose, while the Ukrainian leader’s message is sparer and more direct.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 23, 2022
In this cosmos of text, the white squiggles become sparer at the outskirts, like stars at the edge of a galaxy.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 8, 2022
There, standing just inside the door, tanned like saddle leather, somewhat grayer about the temples and sparer of figure than of old, but with the strong vigour of active months, stood Victor McCalloway.
From The Tempering by Charles Neville Buck
The softer light makes even the sparest of holiday décor feel homier.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 6, 2023
It is not the city’s fanciest, or its sparest.
From New York Times ● May 28, 2022
He’s known to demand only the sparest detail in his briefings, and his workdays frequently include hours watching cable news and posting on Twitter.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 1, 2020
Ideally, they’ll have only the sparest of answers to cling to as they sort out the aftermath themselves.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2017
They understood each other, using the sparest words.
From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
In September 1997 there was also Nora, which was briefly at tropical storm strength as its center passed along the California-Arizona border, but California was spared the kind of damage it delivered to Baja California.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026
Even if private creditors were spared, rating agencies might consider cancellation of central bank holdings a “selective default.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
She added that his age should not have spared him from a youth detention centre.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
Alireza Sepahi was arrested in the wake of Iran's January protests, was spared public execution in July after suffering a heart attack and married his fiancee on the eve of his death.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
Passersby do not look at him, not even a glance is spared despite his height and his pristine grey suit and top hat.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
What’s unsurprising about Chuck Lorre’s memoir: He dishes, and without sparing anyone, including himself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
More than 90 percent of excess heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions has been absorbed by the oceans, sparing land from warming but at severe cost to marine life, reefs and coastal communities.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
With your home in Illinois paid off and a cash purchase in Florida, you’re largely sparing your monthly budget, but not completely.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
She says they were pitched as giving single people "access to a virtually infinite pool of strangers" and sparing them "from the possibility of rejection".
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
We dispatched staff to Angola, which was several hours away, to meet the men when they were released, sparing them the midnight bus trip.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
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.
