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 Also, what would happen to the College Sports Commission, the main NIL enforcement arm that spends the bulk of its time analyzing third-party NIL deals that would be greatly reduced under this arrangement? — ABC News, 31 July 2026 Each day Mark Beard spends in recovery is a reminder of what could have been. — Katie Whyatt, New York Times, 31 July 2026 This pillow is ideal for anyone who spends a lot of time on the road. — Bestreviews, Mercury News, 31 July 2026 Hig spends his days tooling around in an old Cessna, looking for supplies, survivors or signs of life, trying to stay ahead of scavengers known as Reapers, when he is drawn outside the perimeter and finds Cima (Margaret Qualley). — David Faris, TheWeek, 30 July 2026 Steven Pruitt spends his evenings identifying errors that most people never notice and making fixes that hardly anyone ever thanks him for. — Carson Griffith, New Yorker, 30 July 2026 The country already spends one of the highest proportions of GDP on defence among NATO members and is simultaneously pursuing acquisitions such as F-35 fighter aircraft and new naval platforms to improve its overall military readiness. — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 25 July 2026 Without a mentor to guide him, Aang spends his spare time hunting for Air Nomad relics in an attempt to connect with his ancestry. — Alison Herman, Variety, 24 July 2026 This prompted the actor to reach out to the musician, who was going to perform in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, where Duhamel spends a lot of his time, way before Ransom Canyon was conceptualized. — Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 24 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for spends

Verb

For now, the aftermarket pays nominal registry fees to officially access the manufacturers’ secure gateways.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 2 Aug. 2026
Streamex also pays yield on tokenized gold, and its chief executive Henry McPhie has spelled out where his comes from.

— Boaz Sobrado, Forbes.com, 2 Aug. 2026

Definition of pays

Verb

And the human brain only consumes about 20 watts of energy doing that.

— Jackie Snow, IEEE Spectrum, 30 July 2026
Every prompt, response, and autonomous agent interaction consumes tokens, and as AI systems become more sophisticated, usage can scale from thousands to millions—or even trillions—of tokens.

— Sheryl Estrada, Fortune, 29 July 2026

Definition of consumes

Verb

As the family loses another beloved member, The Sopranos alums are grieving the death of Vincent Pastore.

— Glenn Garner, Deadline, 1 Aug. 2026
All the structure and discipline in the world won’t spare him from criticism if Michigan loses four games this year, which is a distinct possibility with a schedule that includes Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana and Oklahoma.

— Austin Meek, New York Times, 31 July 2026

Definition of loses

Verb

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
Watching this scene, and much of the film, exhausts me.

— Jenny Odell, Longreads, 2 June 2026

Definition of exhausts

Verb

This ad hoc approach wastes significant capacity, diverting resources from valuable AI initiatives and widening the gap between data ambition and deployment.

— Susan Laine, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
Donating unsuitable items wastes time and resources, so focus on clean, usable pieces.

— Abby Monteil, The Spruce, 28 July 2026

Definition of wastes

Verb

The light gel-serum texture glides on and absorbs effortlessly, and the cooling metal rollerball applicator feels incredible on post-procedural skin.

— Audrey Noble, Vogue, 27 July 2026
Warm cake absorbs liquid much better, and this is the step that gives the cake its signature moistness.

— Maggie Meyer Glisan, Better Homes & Gardens, 26 July 2026