to spare

Idioms  

1. In addition to what is needed, extra, left over, as in We paid our bills and still had money to spare. This expression uses spare in the sense of “leftover” or “unused,” a usage dating from the late 1500s.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

to spare

Were my parents trying to spare me, as a young child, from learning about human atrocity, or was the Holocaust, and the damage it had done to our family, too difficult for them to confront?

From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026

Completing the extreme 100-mile course with just one minute 39 seconds to spare of the 60-hour cut-off, Jasmin Paris from Midlothian made history and cemented her name in the ultra-running history books.

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

It means Joe Root has won the first two Tests of his second reign as captain, winning this series with a match to spare, in the process earning England's first series triumph since 2024.

From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026

If you have two hours to spare, go find a bass fisherman and ask them what they think about FFS.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026

They all zip past the saxophonist without a glance or a coin to spare, so I do, too, even though I don’t feel very good about it.

From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day