spruce

¹ American  

[sproos] / sprus /

noun

• spruces
  plural

1. any evergreen, coniferous tree of the genus Picea, of the pine family, having short, angular, needle-shaped leaves attached singly around twigs and bearing hanging cones with persistent scales.

2. any of various allied trees, as the Douglas fir and the hemlock spruce.

3. the wood of any such tree.

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adjective

• sprucer,
  comparative
• sprucest
  superlative

1. made from the wood of a spruce tree or trees.

2. containing or abounding in spruce trees.

spruce ² American  

[sproos] / sprus /

adjective

• sprucer,
  comparative
• sprucest
  superlative

1. trim in dress or appearance; neat; smart; dapper.

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verb (used with object)

spruced, sprucing

1. to make spruce or smart (often followed byup ).

   Spruce up the children before the company comes.

verb (used without object)

spruced, sprucing

1. to make oneself spruce (usually followed byup ).

spruce ¹ British  

/ spruːs /

noun

1. any coniferous tree of the N temperate genus Picea, cultivated for timber and for ornament: family Pinaceae. They grow in a pyramidal shape and have needle-like leaves and light-coloured wood See also Norway spruce blue spruce white spruce black spruce

2. the wood of any of these trees

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spruce ² British  

/ spruːs /

adjective

1. neat, smart, and trim

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• spruceness
  noun
• unspruced
  adjective
• sprucely
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• spruces
  plural

Adjectives

• sprucer
  comparative
• sprucest
  superlative

Etymology

Origin of spruce¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, special use of Spruce, Sprus(e), variant of Pruce, Prus(se), from Old French Prusse, Pruisse, from Medieval Latin Prussia Prussia, source of the timber

Origin of spruce²

First recorded in 1580–90; obsolete spruce jerkin originally, jerkin made of spruce leather, i.e., leather imported from Prussia ( see spruce ¹), hence fine, smart, etc.

Explanation

Spruce is a verb that means you pay special attention to your personal appearance, especially your grooming and clothing. If you want to spruce up for a wedding, you'll need to rent a tuxedo and do something with your hair. Spruce can also mean that you're making something else look better. You might spruce up the living room before your girlfriend's visit by vacuuming, throwing away all the trash, and putting away the dishes you left sitting around. Spruce is typically used in combination with the word up: spruce up. Spruce's use as a verb possibly originated from "spruce leather," which was used to make a popular type of jacket back in the 1400s.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

spruce spruces sprucer sprucest spruced sprucing

Other houses were given a free lick of paint to spruce them up ahead of the arrival of the heads of state of 32 nations, including US President Donald Trump, the Sozcu newspaper reported.

From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026

The Cursor deal could spruce up xAI’s positioning in the market, allowing Musk to improve Grok with better coding capabilities and also convince enterprise companies to adopt its AI.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026

Whether you’re looking to spruce up weeknight dinners or wow a crowd of guests, be sure to give these embellishments a try.

From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026

They are from 7 to 8 feet long, made from carefully selected 50-to-60-year-old pine and spruce trees felled in early summer; tests of replica spears have suggested a range of about 38 yards.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026

At a quarter to ten, neat, spruce, and dandified as ever, he made his way to the restaurant car, where a chorus of woe was going on.

From "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie

"Previously, it was spruces or cedars, but today, we find endemic species better adapted to the climate," Merdan Arazmedov, a member of Turkmenistan's Nature Protection Society, told AFP.

From Barron's ● Dec. 18, 2025

There’s no escaping the fact the simulated emergency care being given under shade of spruces could be carried out in grim reality in the coming weeks and months.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2024

At the head of it all, where the grass grows into a forest mixed with pines, spruces, and birch, is a small bar with a "Huuva Hideaway" sign hanging above.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2022

I found that spruces and pines were the easiest to transplant and usually could make the transition from Christmas tree to landscape specimen with few problems.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 11, 2021

The elms and chestnuts are long gone, the stately hemlocks and flowery dogwoods are going, and the red spruces, Fraser firs, mountain ashes, and sugar maples may be about to follow.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

Mr. Kabelac, who seemed the sprucer, less bashful of the two, spoke right up: "I'd be glad to marry her if Mrs. Stull says it's all right."

From Time Magazine Archive

They rode the sprucer for it; they were in better spirits for it.

From The Surrender of Santiago An Account of the Historic Surrender of Santiago to General Shafter, July 17, 1898 by Frank Norris

The storekeeper, much sprucer in dress than heretofore, smiled and nodded to her over the bridge of his violin.

From How Janice Day Won by Helen Beecher Long

There was dear old Ralph, looking quite ordinary and matter-of-fact, only rather sprucer than usual in his brand-new wedding garments.

From The Moon out of Reach by Margaret Pedler

In its whole constitution it had not a straight floor, and hardly a straight line; but it had outlasted, and clearly would yet outlast, many a better-trimmed building, many a sprucer public-house.

From Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

Thenceforth, while Britain's Glubb Pasha built the British-equipped Arab Legion into Islam's sprucest fighting force, Abdullah ruled the sandy wastes as a Bedouin black-tent state.

From Time Magazine Archive

Would any one wish to see these remains tricked out in the sprucest, or even the richest, modern habiliments?

From The Book-Collector A General Survey of the Pursuit and of those who have engaged in it at Home and Abroad from the Earliest Period to the Present Time by William Carew Hazlitt

Along thy sprucest bookshelves shine The works thou deemest most divine— The 'Art of Cookery,' and mine, My Murray.

From Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 4 With His Letters and Journals by Thomas Moore

But Mr. Hugh Wenlock was on deck in the sprucest of his apparel, and was visibly anxious and fidgety, as befitted a man who shortly expected to enter into the bonds of matrimony.

From A Master of Fortune Being Further Adventures of Captain Kettle by Stanley L. Wood

Some buildings were spruced up as part of a tourism drive launched in the 1990s, which peaked in the years following the landmark 2016 visit by former US President Barack Obama.

From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026

He’s pleased to see the estate being spruced up.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2025

By that point, gay marriage had become the law of the land and a new bar using the Stonewall name, now spruced up for tourists, had taken over the space, with a museum next door.

From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2024

The hall is spruced up with new seats and looks lovely.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2024

“Got any eggs?” asked Rooster Jim, all spruced up in mostly clean clothes.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

I like sprucing up my ramen with fresh bok choy, baby corn, spinach and pickled red onions.

From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026

For used cars, dealers sometimes charge “reconditioning” fees even though sprucing up the vehicle is a necessary part of selling it, Baker said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026

While Malik welcomes the top court's observations and directions, she says that along with sprucing up laws, there's an urgent need to ensure their proper implementation.

From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2026

Minister Chung said North Koreans have been spotted "sprucing up" areas near the JSA for the first time this year -- cleaning, pulling weeds, tidying flower beds and taking photos.

From Barron's ● Oct. 25, 2025

No matter how much sprucing up we did, that warehouse was not pretty.

From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles