spend

verb

\ ˈspend

spent\ ˈspent

\; spending

Definition of spend

transitive verb

1 : to use up or pay out : expend

2a : exhaust, wear out the hurricane gradually spent itself

b : to consume wastefully : squander the waters are not ours to spend— J. R. Ellis

3 : to cause or permit to elapse : pass spend the night

4 : give up, sacrifice

intransitive verb

1 : to expend or waste wealth or strength

2 : to become expended or consumed

3 : to have an orgasm

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Examples of spend in a Sentence

I spent $30 on his birthday gift. They spend a lot on clothes and cars. I want to buy a new car, but I don't have much money to spend. Her willingness to spend freely made her popular among her friends. He spends lavishly on vacations. I spent my summer at the beach. She spent eight months living in New York City. Relaxing with friends is a great way to spend a weekend. Our cat spends most of his time sleeping. Too much of my time is spent arguing with customers.

Recent Examples on the Web

Also, how much money are these guys willing to spend on what will no doubt be increasingly elaborate pranks? — Allie Gemmill, Teen Vogue, "Nick Jonas and John Stamos Stepped Up Their Prank War to Include Personalized Blankets," 12 Mar. 2019 More children are suffering from neck and back problems because of time spent on phones, tablets, and other devices, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon says. — Caroline Picard, Good Housekeeping, "Your Kid Probably Has "Text Neck" — Here's What You Need to Know," 1 Mar. 2019 The web of lies woven to explain away a sudden lack of lines, the hefty pricetag of a cutting edge procedure, or a long weekend spent on lockdown at home can be rather impressive. — Liz Krieger, Town & Country, "The Stealthy Lies People Tell to Cover up Their Plastic Surgery," 26 Feb. 2019 Epstein spends most of his time on his private island in the Virgin Islands, Brown writes. — Jane Coaston, Vox, "Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who is friends with Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, explained," 22 Feb. 2019 Your energy is better spent on the solutions for the problem. — Caitlin Moscatello, Woman's Day, "10 Things You Should Never Do After a Fight With Your Partner," 20 Feb. 2019 And all that time spent on Facebook has turned it into an advertising juggernaut. — Kurt Wagner, Recode, "Facebook needs a ‘reset’ button for your friend list," 27 Dec. 2018 Now an equity analyst has spent a week biking around London for Deliveroo, a European competitor to Uber Eats, to better understand the economics of food delivery and its infamous flexible working contracts. ... — Stephen Wilmot, WSJ, "How Investors Can Prepare for Uber and Lyft IPOs," 1 Mar. 2019 Up until now, many women have spent all of history downplaying those concerns. — Jennifer Wright, Harper's BAZAAR, "Bernie Sanders' Sexism Problem," 27 Feb. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'spend.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Dictionary Entries near spend

Statistics for spend

Last Updated

19 Mar 2019

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for spend

The first known use of spend was in the 13th century

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More Definitions for spend

spend

verb

English Language Learners Definition of spend

: to use (money) to pay for something

: to allow (time) to pass in a particular place or while doing a particular activity

: to use (energy or effort) to do something

See the full definition for spend in the English Language Learners Dictionary

spend

verb

\ ˈspend

spent\ ˈspent \; spending

Kids Definition of spend

1 : to use (money) to pay for something

2 : to cause or allow (as time) to pass … he parked his car … and was spending considerable time walking about town.— Robert McCloskey, Homer Price

3 : to use wastefully : squander She spends a lot of energy worrying.