SPENDS Synonyms: 98 Similar and Opposite Words

spends

verb

present tense third-person singular of spend

as in pays

to hand over or use up in payment I always end up spending too much money at the mall

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in consumes

to make complete use of the town has already spent its budget for snow removal, and it's only January

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in loses

to use up carelessly spent all his energy on impractical schemes

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of spends Not wanting to rile his union boss, Willett spends the rest of that day at home in Bayville, Long Island, staring at the TV. — Jeff Goodell, Rolling Stone, 11 Sep. 2026 Morris now spends about 70% of his time on data center projects. — Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Money, 11 Sep. 2026 Meanwhile, the megalomaniac Esmeralda, still delusionally kooky, spends less time trying to sabotage Ned and more time getting sent on side quests — an attempt to create her own big puzzle game, a journey undercover at her son’s school. — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 11 Sep. 2026 The film cost less than a studio spends on a trailer, was made by a director whose audience was built for free on YouTube, and was launched by buzz, word-of-mouth and the magic of a Midnight Madness crowd. — Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 11 Sep. 2026 Or… 2) Miami is insufficiently impressed and spends its likely very high 2027 first-round draft pick on a QB with the clear intent for the rookie to soon replace Willis. — Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 4 Sep. 2026 Unlike some long-distance trails that offer extended stretches of relatively forgiving terrain, the AT spends much of its length going relentlessly up and down the Appalachian Mountains. — Amber Harding Outkick, FOXNews.com, 2 Sep. 2026 Khosrowshahi said Uber spends too much time coordinating between teams and not enough time developing its business. — Los Angeles Times, 2 Sep. 2026 Living costs are high and hiring is weak while roughly 1 in 4 unemployed job seekers spends six months or more looking for work. — Jennifer Liu, CNBC, 2 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for spends

Verb

Giu pays Father Joe a visit and gets infected with the same virus after being lured into the confession box.

— Damon Wise, Deadline, 6 Sep. 2026
In her 2015 memoir, Steinem recounts her dynamic, nomadic career as a writer and activist, and pays vivid homage to the people, places, and conversations that shaped her.

— Mary Lawrence Ware, semafor.com, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of pays

Verb

Jongmin Lee, a quantum sensing scientist at SNL, has been working to build an extremely small version of this device, one that consumes very little power and can be used in the field.

— Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 11 Sep. 2026
Throughout our conversation, Angelyne adds ice cubes to the bowl, swirls it with a spoon, and consumes it like gazpacho.

— Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of consumes

Verb

Floor production One of the central themes of Dead Zone discussion, and where some research on it loses some nuance, is that Dead Zone RBs tend to score more total points than late-round backs.

— Ben Gretch, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026
The genius of work divided loses none of its luster when the Chinese are participating in the work, not to mention the peaceful implications of market goods easily crossing borders.

— John Tamny, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026

Definition of loses

Verb

If a bureaucratic process exhausts whatever time a citizen has available, then benefits are lost or rights are denied.

— Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 14 Aug. 2026
That’s because even ordinary winds – and far worse, storms and earthquakes – cause tall buildings to sway, which ruins people’s concentration, wrecks their mood, and even exhausts them.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 24 July 2026

Definition of exhausts

Verb

This recombination prevents the charges from reaching the electrodes, which wastes potential electrical power.

— Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 3 Sep. 2026
The group argues the city’s support wastes tax dollars on private business when the city has needs elsewhere.

— Dylan Lysen, Kansas City Star, 2 Sep. 2026

Definition of wastes

Verb

Beijing is quite happy, for now at least, to watch as the US drains its treasure policing the world’s sea lanes, keeping transnational drug gangs and fraudsters in check, and maintaining global financial stability.

— Andy Browne, semafor.com, 8 Sep. 2026
Aerate The Soil Soil that drains poorly and becomes waterlogged will cause grass to suffer, but nutgrass can flourish in these conditions.

— Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 23 Aug. 2026

Definition of drains

Verb

This design effectively absorbs violent shockwaves that would otherwise shatter conventional armor.

— Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 9 Sep. 2026
Nitrogen is also a core component of chlorophyll, which absorbs energy from light in photosynthetic organisms, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the primary energy-carrying molecule found in the cells of plants and animals.

— Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 Sep. 2026