spare
Americanverb (used with object)
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spares,
present (3rd person singular)
-
spared,
past participle, past
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sparing
present participle
-
to refrain from harming or destroying; leave uninjured; forbear to punish, hurt, or destroy.
to spare one's enemy.
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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.
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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!
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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
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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
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Synonym Usage
See thin.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sparesimple
-
sparessimple
-
have sparedperfect
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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:
Suresh, a telecommunications engineer who works at Verizon and cooks meals for the homeless in her spare time, wanted to see the place with her own eyes, her brother said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
If the courts don’t stop Pike’s execution, the public should urge Gov. Bill Lee to spare her life.
From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026
The 28-year-old keeps up with the latest technology by spending his spare time in factories that are switching to automation.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
In his dwindling spare time he can be found at the race track, where he’s been part-owner of six horses in nine years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026
She easily catches up to me with what looks like plenty of energy to spare.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
That is the same form of leniency that prosecutors granted to Alibaba and EagleBank, which requires them to admit wrongdoing but spares them from being charged.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
Incredibolt, trained by Riley Mott, at least spares the Preakness from not having a single graded-stakes winner in a two-turn race.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 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
The planning application also includes public access along a circular walk, viewing areas, public toilets, spares to hire and restoration of the existing orchard.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2026
“If God spares Beth, I never will complain again,” whispered Meg earnestly.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
Christopher Rountree, Long Beach Opera’s music director, conducts an ensemble of nine, but often the instrumental textures are sparer than even those modest forces.
From New York Times ● Feb. 20, 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
Though its sparer instrumentation deviates from the futuristic electronic synthesis of “Running Up That Hill,” it shares in the song’s openness and wonder, in its enlightened feeling of breaking through.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2022
He looked still again perceptibly older, his face continued to grow sparer of flesh, emphasizing the aggressively bony structure of his head.
From Linda Condon by Joseph Hergesheimer
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
Here’s Berlin’s great gift — or, one of them: the power to spark life on the page using the sparest of words.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2018
Inside each is only the sparest of personal belongings: pots, plates and cups, a bag or two of clothes and a plastic mat to sleep on.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 25, 2017
They understood each other, using the sparest words.
From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
There was also Nora in September 1997, 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 ● Sep. 1, 2026
The dons themselves spared no effort in ensuring that this view became conventional wisdom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
David Price is one of those whose home escaped the flames in Stourbridge and he is still trying to understand why it was spared.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
While mountainous areas have been spared the worst of the heat, the exceptional temperatures have seen a record number of rockfalls in the Alps, according to a French scientist.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Petey only spared him the mildest of glances.
From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles
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
The tech giant said it had “never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly” as it lifted prices by as much as 25% on key items, while sparing increases for its signature iPhone.
From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 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
It can be broken into hydrogen and oxygen to produce rocket fuel, sparing tomorrow’s explorers the need to carry enough for the trip home.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
I say to the others, not sparing another thought for the dead men.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
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.
