spared

American  

[spaird] / spɛərd /

adjective

1. 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.

2. dispensed with or done without.

   I finally obtained a little ready money by converting some easily spared articles of jewelry into cash.

3. 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.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of spare.

Other Word Forms

• unspared adjective

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

Even the ancient statues in the capital’s National Museum — those that weren’t stolen — weren’t spared.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2026

Their stand-in renditions spared livestock and human attendants from sacrifice.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

Morgan analysts wrote in a recent note to clients, during periods of high market volatility, gold “is not spared from the sell-everything dynamic.”

From MarketWatch • Mar. 26, 2026

In practice, instances when parents are spared are becoming increasingly rare, said Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, a former ICE official who oversaw implementation of the directive at ICE during the Obama and first Trump administrations.

From Salon • Mar. 24, 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

Related Words

• immune