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View synonyms for spend

spend

[ spend ]

verb (used with object)

, spent, spend·ing.
  1. to pay out, disburse, or expend; dispose of (money, wealth, resources, etc.):

    resisting the temptation to spend one's money.

    Antonyms: keep, earn

  2. to employ (labor, thought, words, time, etc.), as on some object or in some proceeding:

    Don't spend much time on it.

    Synonyms: devote, apply, use

  3. to pass (time) in a particular manner, place, etc.:

    We spent a few days in Baltimore.

  4. to use up, consume, or exhaust:

    The storm had spent its fury.

  5. to give (one's blood, life, etc.) for some cause.


verb (used without object)

, spent, spend·ing.
  1. to spend money, energy, time, etc.
  2. Obsolete. to be consumed or exhausted.

spend

/ spɛnd /

verb

  1. to pay out (money, wealth, etc)
  2. tr to concentrate (time, effort, thought, etc) upon an object, activity, etc
  3. tr to pass (time) in a specific way, activity, place, etc
  4. tr to use up completely

    the hurricane spent its force

  5. tr to give up (one's blood, life, etc) in a cause
  6. obsolete.
    intr to be used up or exhausted
  7. spend a penny informal.
    to urinate
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


noun

  1. an amount of money spent, esp regularly, or allocated to be spent
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • ˈspendable, adjective
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Other Words From

  • anti·spending adjective
  • under·spend verb underspent underspending
  • un·spending adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of spend1

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” ( expend ); compare German spenden
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Word History and Origins

Origin of spend1

Old English spendan, from Latin expendere; influenced also by Old French despendre to spend, from Latin dispendere; see expend , dispense
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Idioms and Phrases

see pocket (spending) money .
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Synonym Study

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.
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Example Sentences

Luckily for him, he found Sairam Palicherla, a scientist who has spent more than two decades studying farming.

Last week, she spent hours on the phone with colleagues to check on the status of their intensive care units.

From Vox

I’ve written before about how billionaire philanthropists can spend their money to fight climate change.

From Vox

I was tired of spending my evenings trying to understand the next day.

From Eater

American spent an estimated $9 billion on the holiday in 2018, according to Vox.

From Quartz

Speech, in this case, is our ability to spend money on a goofy entertainment.

Earlier this week, Huckabee ended his Fox News talk show so he could spend time mulling another bid for the Republican nomination.

Prosecutors wanted him to spend at least 10 years behind bars.

He is expected to spend the next few days closeted with lawyers and advisers at his home, Royal Lodge, in Windsor Great Park.

Instead, I spend much of my time criticizing my fellow atheists.

It's a certainty that they will be captured if they spend that money at any trading-post within our jurisdiction.

He told her he would probably spend the next day in bed for a thorough rest, and she agreed that that would be a very good idea.

This is a big country, but you can count on the fingers of one hand the places where a man can spend money.

Also, some ominous comments on what armies spend and what Governments scrimp:—that is ammunition.

In order not to weary your Majesty, I shall not dwell longer upon this, or spend time setting forth our losses.

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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.

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Spencerianspendable