spend
Americanverb (used with object)
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to pay out, disburse, or expend; dispose of (money, wealth, resources, etc.).
resisting the temptation to spend one's money.
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to employ (labor, thought, words, time, etc.), as on some object or in some proceeding.
Don't spend much time on it.
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to pass (time) in a particular manner, place, etc..
We spent a few days in Baltimore.
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to use up, consume, or exhaust.
The storm had spent its fury.
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to give (one's blood, life, etc.) for some cause.
verb (used without object)
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to spend money, energy, time, etc.
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Obsolete. to be consumed or exhausted.
verb
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to pay out (money, wealth, etc)
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(tr) to concentrate (time, effort, thought, etc) upon an object, activity, etc
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(tr) to pass (time) in a specific way, activity, place, etc
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(tr) to use up completely
the hurricane spent its force
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(tr) to give up (one's blood, life, etc) in a cause
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obsolete (intr) to be used up or exhausted
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informal to urinate
noun
Related Words
Spend, disburse, expend, squander refer to paying out money. Spend is the general word: We spend more for living expenses now. Disburse implies expending from a specific source or sum to meet specific obligations, or paying in definite allotments: The treasurer has authority to disburse funds. Expend is more formal, and implies spending for some definite and (usually) sensible or worthy object: to expend most of one's salary on necessities. Squander suggests lavish, wasteful, or foolish expenditure: to squander a legacy.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of spend
First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English spenden, continuing Old English -spendan (in āspendan, forspendan “to spend entirely or utterly”), from West Germanic, from Latin expendere “to pay out, spend, expend” ( see expend); compare German spenden
Explanation
When you use money or time, you spend it. If you spend a lot of time at the mall, you'll probably also spend money there. The verb spend is good for talking about passing time on a particular activity or living in one place for a length of time: "He went on to spend years in India." When you spend money, you pay it in return for something, like when you spend five dollars on a bottle of water at the airport or spend your savings on a trip around the world. The Latin root expendere means "to weigh out money."
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.
"But the report did show a correlation between, the more time you spend on social media the greater loss of wellbeing."
From BBC • May 23, 2026
Women’s workplace gains are likely playing an equal role, along with personal preferences, in driving men to spend more time on housework, said Misty Heggeness, an economist at the University of Kansas.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 23, 2026
Despite rapid growth, quick commerce faces profitability hurdles as platforms spend billions to gain market share amid intense price wars.
From Barron's • May 23, 2026
Or, they might forgo games entirely and spend time watching short-form content, Gallagher said.
From MarketWatch • May 23, 2026
Like she didn’t spend half of last year texting Trent Baker, even though she’s not allowed to date.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
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.
