verb
adjective
-
used up or exhausted; consumed
-
(of a fish) exhausted by spawning
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of spent
First recorded in 1425–75, for the adjective
Explanation
If you're spent, you are completely worn out or exhausted. Almost everyone feels completely spent after climbing a mountain or running a marathon. When you're spent, you've used up your reserves of energy, and when a physical item is spent, it's outlived its usefulness. Spent fuel, for example, has been burned and can no longer power a machine, and a rocket might power a space shuttle until it's spent and falls away. The adjective spent comes from the verb spend, "to pay out," which has the Latin root expendere, "to pay down."
Vocabulary lists containing spent
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.
Super Giants, playing their first match under their new name having spent five years as Manchester Originals, made steady work chasing their low target.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Chinese carmakers spent the past decade replacing gasoline engines with batteries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
In the neighbouring village of Lege-Cap-Ferret, Elke Urbain and her two daughters spent the night in a community hall after being evacuated.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
She’d spent decades honing her craft for that phone call.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 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
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.
