SPEND Definition & Meaning

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spend

[ spend ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

verb (used with object)

spent, spending.

to pay out, disburse, or expend; dispose of (money, wealth, resources, etc.):
resisting the temptation to spend one's money.
Antonyms: ,
to employ (labor, thought, words, time, etc.), as on some object or in some proceeding:
Don't spend much time on it.
Synonyms: , ,
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.

verb (used without object)

spent, spending.

to spend money, energy, time, etc.
Obsolete. to be consumed or exhausted.

spend

/ ��ɛ�Ի� /

verb

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
obsolete.
intr to be used up or exhausted
spend a penny informal.
to urinate

noun

an amount of money spent, esp regularly, or allocated to be spent

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Derived Forms

ˈ��Ի岹��, adjective

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Other �y��vlog Forms

��t��·��Ի�i�Բ� adjective
�ܲ�d��·��Ի� verb underspent underspending
�ܲ�·��Ի�i�Բ� adjective

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of spend¹

First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English spenden, continuing Old English -spendan (in āspendan, forspendan “to spend entirely or utterly”), from West Germanic, from Latin expendere “to pay out, spend, expend” ( expend ); compare German spenden

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of spend¹

Old English spendan, from Latin expendere; influenced also by Old French despendre to spend, from Latin dispendere; see expend , dispense

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Idioms and Phrases

see pocket (spending) money .

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Synonym Study

Spend, disburse, expend, squander refer to paying out money. Spend is the general word: We spend more for living expenses now. Disburse implies expending from a specific source or sum to meet specific obligations, or paying in definite allotments: The treasurer has authority to disburse funds. Expend is more formal, and implies spending for some definite and (usually) sensible or worthy object: to expend most of one's salary on necessities. Squander suggests lavish, wasteful, or foolish expenditure: to squander a legacy.

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

When President Biden signed the spending bill with the ban, he promised Americans that his administration would work around the clock to find a way to lift the ban.

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Meta, Amazon and Alphabet also produce consumer gadgets but make billions of dollars annually from ads purchased by brands in other countries, which some analysts say could also drop if these advertisers pull back spending.

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You would think most people would need a break after spending 18 months in the military.

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“If you spend too much upgrading a property beyond what’s typical for the neighborhood, you may not get that money back when you sell.”

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"My goals are to have a good relationship with my daughter, get to see my grandkids, and spend time as a normal human being and as a father."

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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