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Synonyms

spare time

American  
[spair tahym] / ˈspɛər ˈtaɪm /

noun

  1. time that is free from the demands of work or other obligations; free time.

    To supplement his income from farming, Mike began making mechanical chicken pluckers in his spare time.

    In her spare time, my aunt does a lot of community volunteer work.

Etymology

Origin of spare time

First recorded in 1565–75

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.

In his spare time, he obsesses about where to find the perfect slice of New York-style pizza.Follow him on Twitter @CharlesPassy.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 1, 2026

She spends her spare time catching up with friends for lunch, and going to college in the south of England, near her family home.

From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026

The largely empty schedule appeared to leave plenty of spare time -- much of which would, on a normal weekend, be filled by Trump playing golf at his nearby club.

From Barron's • Feb. 28, 2026

Edwin Dorsey, the author of a financial newsletter who trades on Kalshi in his spare time, uses a database of Trump’s utterances to assess how often the president uses certain terms.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 24, 2026

He also ran errands for the ward and in his spare time made me a cigarette lighter out of an empty Austrian rifle cartridge.

From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway

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.