spend
Americanverb (used with object)
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spends,
present (3rd person singular)
-
spent,
past participle, past
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spending
present participle
-
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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spends,
present (3rd person singular)
-
spent,
past participle, past
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spending
present participle
-
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
Synonym Usage
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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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spendsimple
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spendssimple
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have spentperfect
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has spentperfect
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am spendingprogressive
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are spendingprogressive
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is spendingprogressive
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have been spendingperfect progressive
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has been spendingperfect progressive
Past
-
spentsimple
-
had spentperfect
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was spendingprogressive
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were spendingprogressive
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had been spendingperfect progressive
Future
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.
See Examples For:
By the end of the year officials project that at least 2,500 will have been let out to spend two-thirds of their sentence on a licence in the community.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2026
He’s not willing to spend at all at the moment.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 9, 2026
Skydance will spend about $9 billion on procurement and vendor management activities and figures it can reduce that by at least $1.4 billion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2026
Nadeem Meghji, global head of real estate, shocked the firm in September when he said he was departing to spend more time with his family.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2026
"You can spend your time usefully by holding the map for us while we look at it once again."
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
Recent university graduate Lotte Underwood is a public relations executive with a twist - she spends more time using AI than actually doing PR.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
Spear, who spends more than half her paycheck on rent, said Raman “represents the change that I think a lot of people in the city are really yearning for.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
Meanwhile, further down the financial statements, Lee was struck by Palantir’s free cash flow, a measure of the company’s ability to generate cash in excess of what it spends on operations and equipment purchases.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026
Mr. Ocker spends considerable time with this knowledgeable guide, who displays weary tolerance toward the day-trippers who foray into his territory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
Sometimes she’s late to meals because she spends so long tinkering in the greenhouse.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
Jensen Huang spent decades honing a singular ability to cultivate relationships with politicians around the globe, growing Nvidia into one of the world’s most valuable companies and the engine of the artificial-intelligence boom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2026
What is the most money you’ve spent on an advent calendar, and was it worth it?
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2026
It is feasible that there were moments when they spent quite a lot of time together and Jensen has talked about always having an eye on his work.
From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2026
The money normally spent on the parade will go instead toward pumps, hoses, plugs and generators, Fisher said, “resources our waterways and neighbors desperately need.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2026
Doody spent four years in a tuberculosis sanatorium and refers to himself as a “lunger”—slang for someone who suffers from a disease of the lungs.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Still, the price of financial security should not be spending our 60s worrying about our 70s, 80s and 90s, and beyond.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 10, 2026
WARSAW—Poland has one of the strongest economies in Europe, one of NATO’s highest rates of military spending and a nearly unmatched understanding of Russia’s threat to the continent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2026
After eight weeks without access to the money, Mali decided to take both companies to the small claims court, spending £455 in court fees.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2026
A cruise ship employee was rescued off Santa Catalina Island early Saturday after spending more than nine hours in the water, authorities said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2026
Cat wasn’t sure if fish were shy or stubborn, but some mornings she and Macon came away empty-handed, even after spending hours at the pier.
From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn
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