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spare
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- pronunciation:
- speIr
- parts of speech:
- verb, adjective, noun
| part of speech: |
verb |
| inflections: |
spares, sparing, spared |
| definition 1: |
When a judge spares someone's life, they do not let the person's life be taken away. If a soldier spares the life of an enemy soldier, the soldier doesn't kill the enemy soldier. If someone spares your feelings, they don't let your feelings be hurt.
The judge spared the man's life but sent him to prison.The teacher spared Josh's feelings by not embarrassing him in class.- similar words:
- avoid, conserve, protect, shelter, shield
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| definition 2: |
When you spare someone, you don't let a bad thing happen to them. You treat them gently instead of being very tough with them.
Since it was the first time the young man had broken any law, the judge decided to spare him. |
| definition 3: |
When you are spared some bad thing, you are saved from it. The bad thing doesn't happen to you, or you don't have to do something that you don't want to do.
Luckily, the hurricane quickly moved out to sea, and it spared the town a lot of destruction.The bus came soon and it spared us having to wait a long time in the cold.- synonyms:
- save
- similar words:
- release, rescue
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| definition 4: |
When you spare someone a dollar, you let them have a dollar. If you spare someone five minutes, you let them take five minutes of your time. If you can't spare something, it means that you feel that you really need it for yourself.
Emma had a lot of clips in her hair, and I asked if she could spare me one since I really needed it.Mr. Torres asked his sister for a loan, but his sister said she couldn't spare him any money right now.- synonyms:
- afford, allow
- similar words:
- give, grant, provide, supply, yield
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| part of speech: |
adjective |
| inflections: |
sparer, sparest |
| definition 1: |
If you have a spare tire in your car, it means you have an extra tire that you keep for when you need it in the future.
My mom keeps a flashlight in the kitchen drawer along with a lot of spare batteries.- similar words:
- extra
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| definition 2: |
When you have spare rooms in your house, you have more rooms than you are using or that you really need. If you have spare change, you have some coins that you don't need much.
My mom gave away her spare sheets and towels to some people at church who needed them.- similar words:
- additional, excess, extra, unnecessary
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| definition 3: |
When something is spare, the amount of it is small.
The prisoners were give a spare meal each night.The furniture in the hotel room was spare, but everything was clean.- similar words:
- slender
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| related words: |
light, more, narrow, slim |
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| part of speech: |
noun |
| definition 1: |
A spare is something that is put aside for future use.
Dr. Lu's car had a flat tire this morning, but she had a spare in the trunk. |
| definition 2: |
In the game of bowling, a spare is when you finish knocking down all the pins with the second ball that you throw.
He only got three pins with his first ball, but he got a spare with his second try. |
| derivations: |
sparely (adv.), spareness (n.) |
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