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.

---

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

Appeared in the October 11, 2025, print edition as 'President Orders Spared Convicts a Lifetime of Torment'.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 11, 2025

Spared thanks to the efforts of his employer, Google, Alvin stumbles upon secret information that reveals suppressed details about the camps.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2025

Spared initially, small towns in rural Kansas were so overwhelmed that hospitals had to fly patients hundreds of miles away for treatment.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 9, 2023

Spared from the ravages of World War II, it later became something close to a living museum, a popular destination for school trips and people hoping for a glimpse of the country’s history and tradition.

From New York Times • Sep. 25, 2022

"For Romans, in Rome's quarrels, Spared neither land nor gold, Nor son, nor wife, nor limb nor life, In the brave days of old."

From Architects of Fate or, Steps to Success and Power by Marden, Orison Swett

Related Words

• immune