spend
to pay out, disburse, or expend; dispose of (money, wealth, resources, etc.): resisting the temptation to spend one's money.
to employ (labor, thought, words, time, etc.), as on some object or in some proceeding: Don't spend much time on it.
to pass (time) in a particular manner, place, etc.: We spent a few days in Baltimore.
to use up, consume, or exhaust: The storm had spent its fury.
to give (one's blood, life, etc.) for some cause.
to spend money, energy, time, etc.
Obsolete. to be consumed or exhausted.
Origin of spend
1synonym study For spend
Other words for spend
Opposites for spend
Other words from spend
- an·ti·spend·ing, adjective
- un·der·spend, verb, un·der·spent, un·der·spend·ing.
- un·spend·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use spend in a sentence
In North America, they’re generally available year-round, though they’re at their peak from early fall to early spring, and they’re sweeter after spending a frost on the stalk.
A guide to Brussels sprouts: How to choose, store, season and cook the versatile vegetable | Daniela Galarza | November 20, 2020 | Washington PostThe Nationals spent just one season with Fresno because the coronavirus wiped out minor league baseball in 2020.
Nationals have a new Class AAA affiliate in Rochester Red Wings | Jesse Dougherty | November 19, 2020 | Washington PostWalke said he will spend the holiday at home, even though he has not seen his parents in months.
CDC recommends against Thanksgiving travel amid surge of coronavirus cases | Brittany Shammas | November 19, 2020 | Washington Post“Whatever resources I have, I just kind of spent it to try it out,” he said.
A restaurant that fed the homeless said it might have to close. Donations poured in. | Paulina Firozi | November 19, 2020 | Washington PostThese days she estimates she spends up to two hours a day on Facebook, even while checking Twitter more.
Why it’s easy to hate Facebook but hard to leave | Heather Kelly | November 19, 2020 | Washington Post
At the same time, campaigns are spending less while the special-interest groups are spending more.
I was thinking about retiring from modeling, but spending that time with them rekindled that bug.
Porn Stars on the Year in Porn: Drone Erotica, Belle Knox, and Wild Sex | Aurora Snow | December 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAFP admitted spending more than $10 million to back him in 2011 and 2012.
The Next Phase of the Koch Brothers’ War on Unions | Carl Deal and Tia Lessin | December 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn other words, runaway defense spending is a bipartisan problem.
His claim that taxpayers are spending millions of dollars for each detainee rates True.
It ended on a complaint that she was 'tired rather and spending my time at full length on a deck-chair in the garden.'
The Wave | Algernon BlackwoodThe doctor had been spending Easter at Cannes, and the dowager had devoutly prayed that he might not yet return.
Elster's Folly | Mrs. Henry WoodShe is spending the summer near Deppe, and he hears her play the programme she is going to give in Berlin next winter, every day.
Music-Study in Germany | Amy FayHis most specific charge was that in Mesopotamia they were "spending money like water in looking for oil."
The people at the Towers seem to think as lightly about spending money as we would about using the water from our well.
Dorothy at Skyrie | Evelyn Raymond
British Dictionary definitions for spend
/ (spɛnd) /
to pay out (money, wealth, etc)
(tr) to concentrate (time, effort, thought, etc) upon an object, activity, etc
(tr) to pass (time) in a specific way, activity, place, etc
(tr) to use up completely: the hurricane spent its force
(tr) to give up (one's blood, life, etc) in a cause
(intr) obsolete to be used up or exhausted
spend a penny British informal to urinate
an amount of money spent, esp regularly, or allocated to be spent
Origin of spend
1- See also spends
Derived forms of spend
- spendable, adjective
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
Other Idioms and Phrases with spend
see pocket (spending) money.
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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