spend
verb (used with object)
to pay out, disburse, or expend; dispose of (money, wealth, resources, etc.).
were spending
-
past progressiveof spend.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
Students were spending time with videogame characters, not learning much useful information about the machines they were supposed to be mastering.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
Millennial and Gen Z customers, one respondent said, were spending more money on their pets than older generations.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
TikTok began closing the gap in 2024, when US adults were spending nearly as much time on the app as on Netflix, according to eMarketer data.
From Barron's ● Jul. 16, 2026
Officers were spending two years with the department, picking up “unbelievable training and experience,” only to leave for other agencies, she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
Her skin had coarsened, tanned from all the time they were spending in the yard sitting beneath the brazen sun.
From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
