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View synonyms for spend

spend

[spend]

verb (used with object)

spent, spending 
  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, spending 
  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. 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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Other Word Forms

  • spendable adjective
  • antispending adjective
  • underspend verb
  • unspending 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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

She died Tuesday night at a Los Angeles hospital where friends had been visiting to spend a little last time together.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

While household spending has been surprisingly resilient this year, there remain concerns it will falter given weakness in the labor market and as population growth in Canada slows.

The genre doesn’t need to be legitimized by awards voting bodies because it already has a growing army of dedicated viewers, curious enough to roll the dice and spend their hard-earned cash on risk-taking filmmaking.

Read more on Salon

Yet many households have been struggling to afford groceries, car payments or a first home, while spending by wealthier people and property owners has kept the economy afloat.

Read more on MarketWatch

An escalating trade war, a prolonged government shutdown and a stagnant job market have economists and analysts fearing that consumer spending, a central driver of the U.S. economy, might slow down.

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Spencerianspendable