| 释义 |
Definition of spare in English: spareadjective spɛːspɛr 1Additional to what is required for ordinary use. few people had spare cash for inessentials Example sentencesExamples - It was very cold there, but luckily I had those spare clothes just perfect for the occasion, so I did not freeze outside.
- None of their staff would talk to me (and they had spare staff).
- Make sure that you know how to switch off the mains supply at the fuse box, and store spare fuses in a handy place.
- My spare trainers (alternatives to the ones which still dangle over the front garden, stinking like a couple of dead rats) are relatively easy to find.
- By the spring of 1995, two spare trading pits had been built in an industrial section of Queens.
- This space is reserved as a spare area for products with all primary defects and some secondary defects.
- I opened the door with my spare key and stepped inside my dark house.
- The other leg compartment was empty, but I think it was to hold spare ammunition or something.
- At the end of most days, I empty my pockets of all my spare change and deposit all coins under £1 into his money box.
- Many Beninese enjoy soft drinks and beer, but these require spare cash.
- The spare tire is mounted at an angle and folds up with the rear.
- In New Zealand, over 400 schools have more than 30 percent spare capacity.
- There was always spare food for seconds, as well as thirds and sometimes fourths.
- Apache always tries to maintain several spare or idle server processes, which are ready to serve incoming requests.
- A part of an atom is an electron and in some materials, like metal, atoms can have a few of these spare.
- In reality the schemes are flawed because people don't have this kind of spare money, therefore a cheap, fairer scheme is required.
- Ask that extra, spare equipment be included for your computer training class!
- Some were defective when they arrived in the theater and lacked enough spare parts to effect repairs.
- He said he was more worried about oil supply bottlenecks, low inventories and, in particular, very low spare output capacity.
- The large, silvery cradle - which has an embedded Dell logo that glows blue when the PDA is connected - has a secondary bay for recharging spare batteries.
- Purchase a spare pair of needle nose pliers, regular pliers, a hammer and one of those screwdrivers with all four heads in one handle.
Synonyms extra, supplementary, additional, second, another, alternative, emergency, reserve, backup, relief, fallback, substitute, fresh, auxiliary, ancillary North American alternate surplus, surplus to requirements, superfluous, too much/many, supernumerary, excessive, in excess, going begging redundant, not required, unnecessary, inessential, unessential, needless, unneeded, uncalled for, dispensable, disposable, expendable, unwanted, useless French de trop - 1.1 Not currently in use or occupied.
Example sentencesExamples - I found myself fretting almost uncontrollably at the sides of the boys who carried Will to a spare spot under a vacant tree.
- Keren occupied only one leaving his spare seats free.
- It's the only spare seat in the whole classroom.
- She turned up the heater, turned all vents on the stranger and reached behind her seat for a spare jacket.
- Open crates and various strange pieces of equipment seemed to occupy every spare bit of space.
- Volunteers contribute spare processing time to the project, and currently about 80,000 CPUs are active.
- Their contract with SunGard was supposed to give them daily backups, plus spare space in Hoboken, N.J., in case of dislocation.
- Currently he was wearing Drakes best shirt and Javlin's spare pants.
- Jurys also has significant spare land around many of its Dublin hotels which offer additional future revenue generating opportunities.
- He led her to his motorcycle, pulling up the seat and removing a spare helmet.
- It's been hard to get a spare second to write with semester finals and the fact that I got a new horse to train.
- You do need to open up your case but, since it just requires a spare bracket space, you don't need to worry about slot insertion or other expansion slot issues.
- I've got loans out to three of them, and I told one of them she could move into my spare room if she was tired of her current boyfriend.
- Marco actually reached for the spare sheet of paper on Nick's otherwise vacant desk, but Nick brought his fist down hard onto Marco's fingers.
- Years ago in the midst's of battling other kings lands, King Valric had found the time and spare men to hunt out the seven tribes of the free people.
- T5 owners are not being offered a free memory card - their PDAs have plenty of spare memory, said PalmOne.
- Assuming that a spare piece of cloth could be used for nearly anything, she kept the banner as well.
- He found a counter with some spare room and set the rifle down there, giving it as close an exam as he could in the dim light.
- He stepped out into the warm air and sat down on the spare plastic seat.
- When all was done I sat down next to grandpa Mic and waited as people filled the seats around me but there was still a spare chair to my left side.
Synonyms unbooked, unhired, unallocated, unchartered, unoccupied, untaken, free, empty, vacant - 1.2 (of time) not taken up by one's usual duties or activities; available for leisure.
he tried to write poetry in his spare time Example sentencesExamples - A question from another child revealed Mr Blunkett wishes he had more spare time.
- He stood up and went to the phone, and as luck would have it, Dr. Olson was in, and had some time spare to check Lauren over.
- In his spare hours his interest in music burgeoned.
- With more spare time than younger people, we can spend some of it at the casino.
- I have more spare time and I'm more perceptive of my life and my surroundings.
- If you have a spare hour, it's a great way to pass the time.
- My every spare evening was spent catching up with sleep.
- For most acts, this wouldn't work, but Lemon Jelly has a style that requires headphones and a spare 45 minutes to absorb the album from start to finish.
Synonyms free, leisure, unoccupied, own
2With no excess fat; thin. Example sentencesExamples - Francis, a tall, spare figure and a devout Christian, was to remain in the hot seat.
- She was spare featured with a thin mouth and rectangular face.
- Empty but not hungry, she felt sleek and spare, like a dragonfly.
- Ellen is a small, spare woman with large dark eyes and skin as brown and dry as leather.
- A tall, spare man with jet black hair leaned over the counter to greet them.
Synonyms slender, lean willowy, sylphlike, svelte, lissom, graceful, snake-hipped, rangy, clean-limbed, trim, slight, slightly built, without an ounce of fat thin, as thin as a reed, skinny, size-zero, gaunt, attenuated, lanky, spindly informal skin and bone rare gracile, attenuate 3Elegantly simple. her clothes are smart and spare in style Example sentencesExamples - Empty or peopled with bodies, the stage sports the spare, cool stylishness of a contemporary fashion shoot.
- Less is definitely more when it comes to dramatizing Hawthorne, and the film is suitably spare and lean, both in style and characterization.
- These recordings are spare and simple - just three guys in a room playing clean, clear lines and letting them ring.
- The wall works and the floor sculptures complement the walks, which he documents with elegantly spare photographs.
- Critics usually describe Hemingway's style as simple, spare, and journalistic.
- All the tunes are by the trio's leader, and are characterised by a spare elegance and melodic accessibility which never tips over into the merely saccharine.
- Glazed all along its south side, it offers a simple, spare and sunny series of places that provide a surprising number of possibilities for eating in company.
- It has a beginning, middle, and end, almost a spare and simple story in itself.
- Furnishings in the kitchen and sleeping areas are simple and spare.
- A committed Catholic, Byrd was able to make his living, and his reputation, writing anthems and services in the vernacular spare style for Anglican worship.
- Instead, it has changed the way we design with wood and focused architectural commentary on factors like economy of use and elegance in spare detailing.
- They seek to reduce what they see as needless clutter and eye candy, and to fashion beautifully spare pages, focusing on the most pleasing presentation of text.
- Shot in black-and-white, this is a visually spare film featuring empty landscapes of sand dunes, sand storms, and unco-operative camels.
- Buildings are dotted about a spare landscape resembling a dream-like stage-set; black-clad figures move across the horizon like crows.
- His musical language is spare in style, its melodies and harmonies based on old church modes and the pentatonic scales of Finnish folk-music.
- Watson's drawing style is spare and square, in the literal sense.
- It has a distinctly Super Friendz sound: spare guitar work, precise melodies, choral harmonies and explosive drumming.
- The spare, simple production here has little studio gloss - it's near minimalist - and brings Chapman's warm voice to the fore.
- The interiors of the units are likewise spare, but evocative at the same time.
- Viewed from any angle, or from either bank, the effect is elegantly spare.
noun spɛːspɛr 1An item kept in case another item of the same type is lost, broken, or worn out. the wheel's broken and it would be suicide to go on without a spare Example sentencesExamples - He played his bass like he had five spares waiting backstage.
- Everybody in the world should buy all Miyazaki's films twice and then give their spares to each other.
- You are left with a payload remainder for water, supplies, spares and camping gear.
- As Caroline continues to complain, her cell phone battery goes dead; she then demands Ed find her spare in her Louis Vuitton bag in the front seat.
- I think the great problem is that there is no real place for the second in line, to have the heir and then as the newspaper said, the spare.
- I thought it was in case one broke down, then he'd probably use that other one as a spare.
- After E, above you put the kit back together and have a large box of spares left over.
- It doesn't hurt to have one spare, but three is a little too much.
- Do they sell your make of car in the country you are visiting so spares will be available?
2(in tenpin bowling) an act of knocking down all the pins with two balls. Example sentencesExamples - I threw a gutter ball, screwing up my spare from the frame before.
- The new balls made strikes much easier, so bowlers began to pay less attention to the complex skill of getting spares.
- After her first turn, she'd decided to get the five gutter balls out of the way and missed the first ball, then got a spare.
- This bowling alley has fun graphics to indicate strikes and spares, a loud beep when you step over the line and mysteriously greasy balls.
- He knocked down nine pins with his first ball, then picked up the spare.
- He started with a 3-10 spare in the first frame before rolling six consecutive strikes.
- However, by the sixth frame, she had four strikes and several spares, and my chances of winning weren't looking too great.
verb spɛːspɛr 1with two objects Give (something of which one has enough) to (someone) she asked if I could spare her a bob or two Example sentencesExamples - You have all this money and you won't spare enough to let your own child go back home.
- Can anyone spare me a couple of quid?
- We're sure readers can spare a couple of quid or dollars.
- Dyn was distressed, for he could not spare any of his food so early in his journey.
- My most recent one just said basically that I'm a homeless man, can you spare some change to help me provide some food.
Synonyms afford, do without, manage without, get along without, dispense with, part with, give, let someone have, provide - 1.1 Make free or available.
I'm sure you can spare me a moment Example sentencesExamples - If anyone has a REALmagic remote that they could spare for a few weeks, it sure would speed things up a bit.
- You might even spare a thought for those whose whole existence was the scratch of dirt at it's doorstep.
- I figure I can spare a moment to go say hello to some old allies.
- Please spare two minutes of your time and make your vote count.
- Then without sparing a moment's pity for the fawning, awkward creature that Jonas had become, Christy turned on her heels.
- I can't thank enough my friends who spared the time to see me, or even offered me a night's bed.
- Sydney gasped at the unpleasant feeling, sparing a hand to press against her jaw.
- He spared a moment to take a glance at what was happening.
- Can you spare us a minute?
- And actually, I was honored that he spared some of his very valuable time to meet with me today.
- It is natural that you should look at this from the point of view of a plaintiff, but spare a moment's thought from the point of view of a defendant.
- And at the moment, she just couldn't spare the energy it would take to do the job properly anyway.
- He's travelled a long way and I'm sure you can spare a day out of your busy schedule to talk to him.
- She had worked on this particular gift every minute and moment she could spare.
- The glance he spared her was only momentary before he refocused steadily forward.
- Are you sometimes at a loose end with the odd morning or afternoon you could spare to help somebody?
- I'm afraid I can't spare enough time to participate, but it'll be interesting to observe.
- His voice dripped with ironic sarcasm, as he spared a moment to glance at her.
- He spared enough time for a smile at Em before returning to his homework.
- Arlene spared some of her attention momentarily, to level a glance at her daughter.
2with object Refrain from killing, injuring, or distressing. there was no way the men would spare her Example sentencesExamples - When angry Nature struck, sparing nothing in its wake, the citizens of Mumbai, undeterred, fought back.
- I hoped that the rain would spare me at least until the time I reached that spot.
- And I have to say that my opinion is with the rest of my family that the fact that her life was spared was enough.
- If you are here to confront them, please spare their lives!
- So how do we find, in this first written record, the prudence that spared until a later date so many lives?
- The rains in the end of May did not spare even posh areas.
- His last words to his estranged son had a prophetic ring: ‘May the Lord spare me until I have taken vengeance upon you.’
- For where is the man who would spare the lives of the vanquished if he saw more profit in killing than in sparing them?…
- Obviously God had spared his life for good reason.
Synonyms not harm, leave uninjured, leave unhurt be merciful to, show mercy to, have mercy on, be lenient to, deal leniently with, have pity on pardon, grant a pardon to, excuse, leave unpunished, forgive, reprieve, release, free, let off, amnesty informal go easy on - 2.1with two objects Refrain from inflicting (something unpleasant) on (someone)
the country had until now been spared the violence occurring elsewhere Example sentencesExamples - The damage to his body from previous injuries had at least spared his voice.
- In both cases we have been mercifully spared the full fury.
- Some people took the precaution of seeing their doctor in time and thereby spared themselves untold affliction.
- Even though God has spared me, I cannot be happy about what happened.
- We are spared most of the violence of the situation, and really only see its conclusion.
- Kerry stopped short of offering McCain the job, sparing himself an outright rejection that would make his eventual running mate look like a second choice.
- The city's historic center, which had been largely spared massive bombing raids until then, was almost completely destroyed during this attack.
- Edward is a traitor, and it would be best if the future king was spared from any unfortunate incident that may occur.
- And for a family movie set in a restaurant, Campanella mercifully spares us any panting bliss-outs on the sensual nature of food.
- He could have spared himself a major embarrassment by simply not going to Bogor, south of Jakarta, where the meeting was scheduled to have taken place.
- Much of the film feels profoundly sad, as Donovan spares no unpleasant detail, making for a sobering look at someone so attached to the bottle.
- I had hoped that we would be spared what happened here tonight until you all had been hardened by more experience.
- Kahn does not spare us his mother's humiliation at his father's hands.
- Unfortunately, he did not spare her a glance as he entered the door.
- New Zealand has been spared, and now radiation has diminished enough to allow this shipload of scientists of all kinds to explore the remains of civilization.
- I was fortunate enough to be spared from any casualties among my close friends and relatives; my future husband was not.
- Davidar, wisely, refrained from ever publishing the book, sparing himself the kind of embarrassment that haunts all writers who went with the first draft instead of dumping it in the dustbin.
- The Committee recognise that by admitting all the heads of charge, you have spared Mrs. A the further distress of appearing before the Committee.
- We would have spared ourselves both the agonising process and vicious product of our elaborate schemes.
- But these days, there seems to be more mileage in bailing out, gracefully, if possible, and sparing yourself the media's slings and arrows.
- As children's fears invite adult protection, an anxious child will be spared from unpleasant duties or routines.
- At least this time the Patriots spared themselves that sort of crunch by building up an adequate lead that their defense protected.
- 2.2spare oneselfwith negative Try to ensure or satisfy one's own comfort or needs.
in her concern to help others, she has never spared herself Example sentencesExamples - You suspect that on the tee, England's fierce head coach might resemble the character from P G Wodehouse who ‘never spared himself in his efforts to do the ball a violent injury‘.
- Alliss did not react well to such misfortune and does not spare himself in the telling of the saddest chapter of his endlessly eventful life.
- I am also impressed by the response and hard work of Mayo Co Council, particularly the outdoor staff who have not spared themselves at this critical time.
- A coach will use all his powers throughout a match - enlivening, cajoling, goading scolding or sympathizing where appropriate for the personality and the occasion, and not sparing himself until all is won or lost.
- That is asking a lot of a player who has been an ever constant for club and county since 1995, and during that eight year spell he has taken the knocks without murmur and has certainly not spared himself.
- He was always the quiet one to lead by example, never sparing himself.
- No doubt Pat Grant will be lining himself up for a shot at the chair when it falls vacant in five years time, and meantime he'll not be sparing himself in his endeavours to prove his credentials.
- He was extremely hardworking, never sparing himself in the performance of his duties and once he fainted in his office from exhaustion and almost died.
- Perhaps he spares some of his friends and colleagues in the editing, but he has not spared himself.
- A great communicator and a man of great imagination, novel ideas, and great generosity he has not spared himself in transforming the Diocese since he was consecrated in 1987.
3archaic no object Be frugal. but some will spend, and some will spare
Phrases informal Become extremely angry or distraught. he'd go spare if he lost the money Example sentencesExamples - Your mother actually sent me up, she's going spare downstairs.
- Nine, Ten, and the ABC would go spare at that.
- I'm scared and I'd much prefer to stay home and watch TV but I need money and I'll go spare otherwise.
- I was shocked to see that someone had been digging badgers out - I went spare and my wife had to calm me down.
- If you were to accuse Patrick Egan or Wayne Ramsay of going spare they probably wouldn't argue with you.
- I'll be going spare, pleading with you, but you mustn't give in to me - no matter what.
- He used to go spare if anyone applied a handbrake without pressing the button on the end of the arm as he considered it the height of laziness to just pull the arm.
- Their manager was going spare on the sidelines and a few of their players were having a go at each other.
- At the time, Egan and his Chief of Staff, Michael Coutts Trotter, went spare; Egan was still railing against the Opposition's policy as late as October last year.
- The garden magpies are going spare just now, burying seeds and nuts in random places.
- ‘He just went spare,’ says Dorrie, breaking down.
Synonyms become very angry, become enraged, go into a rage, lose one's temper
Used as an exclamation, especially of exasperation. Example sentencesExamples - Spare me days, girl, it's not as simple as that!
- "Spare me days if it's not Mrs Gough," he exclaimed, thrusting out a great, grimy paw.
- Spare me days, I hope he's not getting paid by the point!
- "God spare me days! Is it you, then, chum?" exclaimed Ted.
- Spare me days, this is a great game for anybody else with plenty of money.
- 'Spare me days, you must have had it done to you some time!'
- Spare me days, I'll never forget it!
- "Spare me days," said the bloke. "I bet that lot stunk after a while?"
- 'Well! Spare me days!' he shouted with a wide grin. 'Where did you spring from?'
- He dropped his tucker-bag and said, "Well, spare me days”.
Do everything one possibly can in order to achieve something. we will spare no effort to secure the release of the captives Example sentencesExamples - In Sligo we are fortunate to have fine coaches, who spare no effort in the preparation of athletes for national competition.
- Apart from personnel relocation, Huang also spared no effort to improve the work environment for the design team.
- A winner all the way was coach/trainer Mary Morrissey who spared no effort at training sessions to both teams.
- She was a woman who spared no effort to further the cause she believed in.
- The directors of almost all the parks are sparing no effort to draw in visitors with new attractions.
- Addressing a UN forum in Brasilia on Tuesday night, Silva vowed to spare no effort in the fight against corruption.
- Early last July, Economy Minister Nikolai Vassilev said the Government had spared no effort to help the owners immediately resume operation.
- Private organizations promoting judicial reform also spared no effort to help.
- Predictably, China will spare no efforts to block the process.
- In the itinerant persecution of Christians he spared no effort to stifle the spread of the gospel.
spare no expense (or no expense spared) Pay any amount of money in order to achieve something. he spared no expense in getting the company off the ground they were determined to find a solution to the problem—no expense spared Example sentencesExamples - The food is as refined as the surroundings - and like the proprietors, prepare to spare no expense to get the most from your dining experience.
- They light firecrackers at night and spare no expense in preparing the feast.
- Not only were the designs innovative, they were incredibly luxurious, for the designers of the interiors created specifically for the exposition spared no expense to install lavish furnishings.
- It was all arranged by her husband Mattie who spared no expense for the lavish night.
- Korda apparently spared no expense to achieve the scope and look he had in mind.
- Encouraged to publish her findings, she spared no expense in preparing the original paintings for a volume on Surinam.
- Owners of the Tokyo Prince Hotel Park Tower spared no expense in building the 33-story, 673-room luxury property in downtown Tokyo.
- Conor was celebrating his wedding anniversary and told his wife, Mary he would treat her to lavish meal with no expense spared.
- Still, he is known as an engineer/studio owner who will spare no expense to achieve the best sound.
- Mr. Harris had not spared any expense, especially now with his wife acting so strangely.
spare a thought for our volunteer group at Christmas Example sentencesExamples - We work on our computers every single day never sparing a thought for all those millions of chunks of data spread all over our hard disks.
- Also can't help sparing a thought for the families of last year's tsunami victims for whom this must all still seem surreal.
- In our rush for change, spare a thought for all those shoppers and business people who have walked the streets of Dublin before us.
- If you think things looked bleak in the first half of 2002, spare a thought for 28 October 1929, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 12.8%.
- Amid euphoric celebrations following last week's cut in interest rates, few of us spared a thought for savers, and even fewer remembered we are all savers through our pension schemes.
- O'Neill's is kindly sparing a thought for designated drivers on New Year's Eve, with free soft drinks.
- And spare a thought for all those others, whose names are a ball and chain they must pull after them through the wilderness of this world.
- However, spare a thought for just how many other people's knowledge and opinions of events are being shaped by so few.
- We go about our blessed existence without even sparing a thought for him.
- Generous readers are sparing a thought for others as they prepare themselves for Christmas.
that turkey will feed ten people with some to spare Example sentencesExamples - If you want to follow a story, and you have time to spare, you can read, hear or see it in at least a hundred different versions.
- He wasn't in his performance clothes, which usually meant he had some time to spare.
- Twitching slightly, I mount the stairs and quietly slip into my spot in the storage facility, with not a moment to spare.
- So, if you have a three or four hours to spare what are you waiting for!
- I got there with seconds to spare and had enough time to clean up a little bit before there was a knock at me door.
- If you try and do it in your spare time, you very quickly realize that you have no spare time to spare for anything else.
- Jake arrived without a moment to spare, whisking me out of the driveway with a wink for Mason.
- She got to the stable with fifteen minutes to spare, and made her way over to Eagle's stall.
- Her album is due out in mid-July and she only has a week to spare amid all the promotions, so she can't do both.
- "We had about 20 ft to spare at the end of the runway.
Synonyms left over, left, over, remaining, unused, unneeded, not required, still available, surplus to requirements
Derivatives adverb ˈspɛːliˈspɛrli But while the work has caused some controversy since its premiere in 1999, the sparely staged Tongue is ultimately a testament to the power of understanding. Example sentencesExamples - The Queen's Gallery is a trim, sparely designed enclosure within the wide and steep but surprisingly narrow fabric of Buckingham Palace.
- On the south wall of this pavilion, in both verandah and dining room, is a kitchen range, as sparely detailed (in hardwood and stainless steel) as the rest of the building.
- But everyone should agree that this debut is the model of efficiency: One singer, one guitar, bass, drums, and even these are deployed sparely.
- If you took a map of Australia and drew a wonky circle around the middle of the country, you'd land in the outback: red dirt, sparely inhabited, the back country.
- Robert Brill's sliding black panels, eliminating all frills, sparely reveal the few evocative necessaries, concentrating on framing the two human figures.
noun But this's the copy that's on release, in which what's discernible is not poetic spareness or austere lyricism, but unendurable tedium and muddle. Example sentencesExamples - There is another aspect of Arcady that is more difficult to describe, but which owes primarily to the disarming simplicity of the book's lexicon and spareness of its phrasing.
- Through her art, Piper brings together conceptualism, minimalism and the politics of identity in a forceful collision that results in a passionate spareness.
- There's the wood panelling, high stools and football on the telly that you'd expect, but the soothing green walls, the dark chocolate brown booths, and a certain spareness about it all are a relief.
- And where Lean's similarly epic Dr Zhivago was hampered by a silly, overwrought plot, this has a clean spareness to it.
- There's a pleasing spareness to Deasy's writing.
noun ˈspɛːrə A person who refrains from inflicting something unpleasant on someone. I am in general a sparer of the rod Example sentencesExamples - Sadly, the prose doesn't sing the way Chandler's does, holding much more to the sparer style used by Parker.
- His drawings are sparer, more ‘in glorious black and white,’ more elegantly stylized, more Weegee, less rough than his brother's.
- Generally, I found Pedersen's coverage to be sparer of the two books in this variation.
Origin Old English spær 'not plentiful, meagre', sparian 'refrain from injuring', 'refrain from using', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German sparen 'to spare'. In the senses ‘left over, extra’, and ‘to avoid harming’, spare is an Old English word, but the spare in spare ribs is quite different. Spare ribs probably comes from the old German word ribbesper, which meant ‘pickled pork ribs roasted on a spit’. Once English speakers started using the German term in the 16th century they soon swapped the two parts round to make it sound more like an English word (compare sideburns). The title of the British feminist magazine Spare Rib, first published in 1972, is a pun on the ‘spare’ rib that God took from Adam's body to create the first woman, Eve.
Rhymes affair, affaire, air, Altair, Althusser, Anvers, Apollinaire, Astaire, aware, Ayer, Ayr, bare, bear, bêche-de-mer, beware, billionaire, Blair, blare, Bonaire, cafetière, care, chair, chargé d'affaires, chemin de fer, Cher, Clair, Claire, Clare, commissionaire, compare, concessionaire, cordon sanitaire, couvert, Daguerre, dare, debonair, declare, derrière, despair, doctrinaire, éclair, e'er, elsewhere, ensnare, ere, extraordinaire, Eyre, fair, fare, fayre, Finisterre, flair, flare, Folies-Bergère, forbear, forswear, foursquare, glair, glare, hair, hare, heir, Herr, impair, jardinière, Khmer, Kildare, La Bruyère, lair, laissez-faire, legionnaire, luminaire, mal de mer, mare, mayor, meunière, mid-air, millionaire, misère, Mon-Khmer, multimillionaire, ne'er, Niger, nom de guerre, outstare, outwear, pair, pare, parterre, pear, père, pied-à-terre, Pierre, plein-air, prayer, questionnaire, rare, ready-to-wear, rivière, Rosslare, Santander, savoir faire, scare, secretaire, share, snare, solitaire, Soufrière, square, stair, stare, surface-to-air, swear, Tailleferre, tare, tear, their, there, they're, vin ordinaire, Voltaire, ware, wear, Weston-super-Mare, where, yeah Definition of spare in US English: spareadjectivesperspɛr 1Additional to what is required for ordinary use. few people had spare cash for inessentials Example sentencesExamples - I opened the door with my spare key and stepped inside my dark house.
- Purchase a spare pair of needle nose pliers, regular pliers, a hammer and one of those screwdrivers with all four heads in one handle.
- He said he was more worried about oil supply bottlenecks, low inventories and, in particular, very low spare output capacity.
- None of their staff would talk to me (and they had spare staff).
- In reality the schemes are flawed because people don't have this kind of spare money, therefore a cheap, fairer scheme is required.
- The large, silvery cradle - which has an embedded Dell logo that glows blue when the PDA is connected - has a secondary bay for recharging spare batteries.
- Some were defective when they arrived in the theater and lacked enough spare parts to effect repairs.
- A part of an atom is an electron and in some materials, like metal, atoms can have a few of these spare.
- My spare trainers (alternatives to the ones which still dangle over the front garden, stinking like a couple of dead rats) are relatively easy to find.
- Make sure that you know how to switch off the mains supply at the fuse box, and store spare fuses in a handy place.
- The other leg compartment was empty, but I think it was to hold spare ammunition or something.
- By the spring of 1995, two spare trading pits had been built in an industrial section of Queens.
- The spare tire is mounted at an angle and folds up with the rear.
- At the end of most days, I empty my pockets of all my spare change and deposit all coins under £1 into his money box.
- Ask that extra, spare equipment be included for your computer training class!
- This space is reserved as a spare area for products with all primary defects and some secondary defects.
- In New Zealand, over 400 schools have more than 30 percent spare capacity.
- Apache always tries to maintain several spare or idle server processes, which are ready to serve incoming requests.
- It was very cold there, but luckily I had those spare clothes just perfect for the occasion, so I did not freeze outside.
- There was always spare food for seconds, as well as thirds and sometimes fourths.
- Many Beninese enjoy soft drinks and beer, but these require spare cash.
Synonyms extra, supplementary, additional, second, another, alternative, emergency, reserve, backup, relief, fallback, substitute, fresh, auxiliary, ancillary surplus, surplus to requirements, superfluous, too many, too much, supernumerary, excessive, in excess, going begging - 1.1 Not currently in use or occupied.
Example sentencesExamples - He led her to his motorcycle, pulling up the seat and removing a spare helmet.
- I've got loans out to three of them, and I told one of them she could move into my spare room if she was tired of her current boyfriend.
- Years ago in the midst's of battling other kings lands, King Valric had found the time and spare men to hunt out the seven tribes of the free people.
- Volunteers contribute spare processing time to the project, and currently about 80,000 CPUs are active.
- When all was done I sat down next to grandpa Mic and waited as people filled the seats around me but there was still a spare chair to my left side.
- Currently he was wearing Drakes best shirt and Javlin's spare pants.
- She turned up the heater, turned all vents on the stranger and reached behind her seat for a spare jacket.
- Jurys also has significant spare land around many of its Dublin hotels which offer additional future revenue generating opportunities.
- He stepped out into the warm air and sat down on the spare plastic seat.
- Open crates and various strange pieces of equipment seemed to occupy every spare bit of space.
- It's the only spare seat in the whole classroom.
- T5 owners are not being offered a free memory card - their PDAs have plenty of spare memory, said PalmOne.
- Marco actually reached for the spare sheet of paper on Nick's otherwise vacant desk, but Nick brought his fist down hard onto Marco's fingers.
- Their contract with SunGard was supposed to give them daily backups, plus spare space in Hoboken, N.J., in case of dislocation.
- You do need to open up your case but, since it just requires a spare bracket space, you don't need to worry about slot insertion or other expansion slot issues.
- Assuming that a spare piece of cloth could be used for nearly anything, she kept the banner as well.
- It's been hard to get a spare second to write with semester finals and the fact that I got a new horse to train.
- I found myself fretting almost uncontrollably at the sides of the boys who carried Will to a spare spot under a vacant tree.
- He found a counter with some spare room and set the rifle down there, giving it as close an exam as he could in the dim light.
- Keren occupied only one leaving his spare seats free.
Synonyms unbooked, unhired, unallocated, unchartered, unoccupied, untaken, free, empty, vacant
2With no excess fat; thin. Example sentencesExamples - She was spare featured with a thin mouth and rectangular face.
- Ellen is a small, spare woman with large dark eyes and skin as brown and dry as leather.
- A tall, spare man with jet black hair leaned over the counter to greet them.
- Francis, a tall, spare figure and a devout Christian, was to remain in the hot seat.
- Empty but not hungry, she felt sleek and spare, like a dragonfly.
3Elegantly simple. her clothes are smart and spare in style Example sentencesExamples - Buildings are dotted about a spare landscape resembling a dream-like stage-set; black-clad figures move across the horizon like crows.
- The wall works and the floor sculptures complement the walks, which he documents with elegantly spare photographs.
- Furnishings in the kitchen and sleeping areas are simple and spare.
- Instead, it has changed the way we design with wood and focused architectural commentary on factors like economy of use and elegance in spare detailing.
- Watson's drawing style is spare and square, in the literal sense.
- Critics usually describe Hemingway's style as simple, spare, and journalistic.
- Shot in black-and-white, this is a visually spare film featuring empty landscapes of sand dunes, sand storms, and unco-operative camels.
- Less is definitely more when it comes to dramatizing Hawthorne, and the film is suitably spare and lean, both in style and characterization.
- All the tunes are by the trio's leader, and are characterised by a spare elegance and melodic accessibility which never tips over into the merely saccharine.
- Viewed from any angle, or from either bank, the effect is elegantly spare.
- It has a distinctly Super Friendz sound: spare guitar work, precise melodies, choral harmonies and explosive drumming.
- The interiors of the units are likewise spare, but evocative at the same time.
- They seek to reduce what they see as needless clutter and eye candy, and to fashion beautifully spare pages, focusing on the most pleasing presentation of text.
- These recordings are spare and simple - just three guys in a room playing clean, clear lines and letting them ring.
- Empty or peopled with bodies, the stage sports the spare, cool stylishness of a contemporary fashion shoot.
- It has a beginning, middle, and end, almost a spare and simple story in itself.
- His musical language is spare in style, its melodies and harmonies based on old church modes and the pentatonic scales of Finnish folk-music.
- Glazed all along its south side, it offers a simple, spare and sunny series of places that provide a surprising number of possibilities for eating in company.
- A committed Catholic, Byrd was able to make his living, and his reputation, writing anthems and services in the vernacular spare style for Anglican worship.
- The spare, simple production here has little studio gloss - it's near minimalist - and brings Chapman's warm voice to the fore.
- 3.1 Meager; nearly inadequate.
the furnishings were spare and unadorned Example sentencesExamples - He is reputed to have been a stingy fellow who kept his patients on a spare regime.
- Another smallish gallery is occupied by a spare installation by Eliasson.
- The extras that have been included - and they're pretty spare - appear primarily on the second disc.
- But it has also become an aesthetic qualification: stripped down, spare, coldly simple.
- The exterior materials are spare; the window frames are narrow and practically disappear.
- Precise, spare, and elegantly played by the Kronos Quartet, the music has a harsh beauty that does not soothe.
nounsperspɛr 1An item kept in case another item of the same type is lost, broken, or worn out. Example sentencesExamples - He played his bass like he had five spares waiting backstage.
- Do they sell your make of car in the country you are visiting so spares will be available?
- It doesn't hurt to have one spare, but three is a little too much.
- As Caroline continues to complain, her cell phone battery goes dead; she then demands Ed find her spare in her Louis Vuitton bag in the front seat.
- I thought it was in case one broke down, then he'd probably use that other one as a spare.
- After E, above you put the kit back together and have a large box of spares left over.
- I think the great problem is that there is no real place for the second in line, to have the heir and then as the newspaper said, the spare.
- Everybody in the world should buy all Miyazaki's films twice and then give their spares to each other.
- You are left with a payload remainder for water, supplies, spares and camping gear.
- 1.1 A spare tire.
make sure there are no problems with any of the tires, including the spare Example sentencesExamples - You put two cases of beer, two suitcases and a real spare, not one of the doughnuts.
- This might let you add enough air to get you home to change the spare at leisure.
- The manual recommends even for pavement not to use the spare for long.
- You never know when you may need to change a flat tire and use the spare.
- They patched the tire, replaced the spare in its hidey-spot under the car, and charged me only $25.
2(in tenpin bowling) an act of knocking down all the pins with two consecutive rolls of the ball. Example sentencesExamples - He knocked down nine pins with his first ball, then picked up the spare.
- He started with a 3-10 spare in the first frame before rolling six consecutive strikes.
- I threw a gutter ball, screwing up my spare from the frame before.
- After her first turn, she'd decided to get the five gutter balls out of the way and missed the first ball, then got a spare.
- The new balls made strikes much easier, so bowlers began to pay less attention to the complex skill of getting spares.
- However, by the sixth frame, she had four strikes and several spares, and my chances of winning weren't looking too great.
- This bowling alley has fun graphics to indicate strikes and spares, a loud beep when you step over the line and mysteriously greasy balls.
verbsperspɛr 1with two objects Give (something of which one has enough) to (someone); afford to give to. she asked if I could spare her a dollar or two Example sentencesExamples - We're sure readers can spare a couple of quid or dollars.
- My most recent one just said basically that I'm a homeless man, can you spare some change to help me provide some food.
- Dyn was distressed, for he could not spare any of his food so early in his journey.
- You have all this money and you won't spare enough to let your own child go back home.
- Can anyone spare me a couple of quid?
Synonyms afford, do without, manage without, get along without, dispense with, part with, give, let someone have, provide - 1.1 Make free or available.
I'm sure you can spare me a moment Example sentencesExamples - He spared a moment to take a glance at what was happening.
- I'm afraid I can't spare enough time to participate, but it'll be interesting to observe.
- I figure I can spare a moment to go say hello to some old allies.
- His voice dripped with ironic sarcasm, as he spared a moment to glance at her.
- Are you sometimes at a loose end with the odd morning or afternoon you could spare to help somebody?
- Can you spare us a minute?
- He spared enough time for a smile at Em before returning to his homework.
- You might even spare a thought for those whose whole existence was the scratch of dirt at it's doorstep.
- And actually, I was honored that he spared some of his very valuable time to meet with me today.
- Then without sparing a moment's pity for the fawning, awkward creature that Jonas had become, Christy turned on her heels.
- And at the moment, she just couldn't spare the energy it would take to do the job properly anyway.
- Sydney gasped at the unpleasant feeling, sparing a hand to press against her jaw.
- He's travelled a long way and I'm sure you can spare a day out of your busy schedule to talk to him.
- She had worked on this particular gift every minute and moment she could spare.
- It is natural that you should look at this from the point of view of a plaintiff, but spare a moment's thought from the point of view of a defendant.
- The glance he spared her was only momentary before he refocused steadily forward.
- If anyone has a REALmagic remote that they could spare for a few weeks, it sure would speed things up a bit.
- Please spare two minutes of your time and make your vote count.
- I can't thank enough my friends who spared the time to see me, or even offered me a night's bed.
- Arlene spared some of her attention momentarily, to level a glance at her daughter.
2with object Refrain from killing, injuring, or distressing. there was no way the men would spare her Example sentencesExamples - For where is the man who would spare the lives of the vanquished if he saw more profit in killing than in sparing them?…
- Obviously God had spared his life for good reason.
- And I have to say that my opinion is with the rest of my family that the fact that her life was spared was enough.
- If you are here to confront them, please spare their lives!
- I hoped that the rain would spare me at least until the time I reached that spot.
- The rains in the end of May did not spare even posh areas.
- When angry Nature struck, sparing nothing in its wake, the citizens of Mumbai, undeterred, fought back.
- So how do we find, in this first written record, the prudence that spared until a later date so many lives?
- His last words to his estranged son had a prophetic ring: ‘May the Lord spare me until I have taken vengeance upon you.’
Synonyms not harm, leave uninjured, leave unhurt - 2.1with two objects Refrain from inflicting (something) on (someone)
the country had until now been spared the violence occurring elsewhere Example sentencesExamples - We would have spared ourselves both the agonising process and vicious product of our elaborate schemes.
- The damage to his body from previous injuries had at least spared his voice.
- Some people took the precaution of seeing their doctor in time and thereby spared themselves untold affliction.
- In both cases we have been mercifully spared the full fury.
- I was fortunate enough to be spared from any casualties among my close friends and relatives; my future husband was not.
- Kerry stopped short of offering McCain the job, sparing himself an outright rejection that would make his eventual running mate look like a second choice.
- Unfortunately, he did not spare her a glance as he entered the door.
- And for a family movie set in a restaurant, Campanella mercifully spares us any panting bliss-outs on the sensual nature of food.
- I had hoped that we would be spared what happened here tonight until you all had been hardened by more experience.
- The city's historic center, which had been largely spared massive bombing raids until then, was almost completely destroyed during this attack.
- But these days, there seems to be more mileage in bailing out, gracefully, if possible, and sparing yourself the media's slings and arrows.
- We are spared most of the violence of the situation, and really only see its conclusion.
- Much of the film feels profoundly sad, as Donovan spares no unpleasant detail, making for a sobering look at someone so attached to the bottle.
- He could have spared himself a major embarrassment by simply not going to Bogor, south of Jakarta, where the meeting was scheduled to have taken place.
- New Zealand has been spared, and now radiation has diminished enough to allow this shipload of scientists of all kinds to explore the remains of civilization.
- At least this time the Patriots spared themselves that sort of crunch by building up an adequate lead that their defense protected.
- Kahn does not spare us his mother's humiliation at his father's hands.
- As children's fears invite adult protection, an anxious child will be spared from unpleasant duties or routines.
- Edward is a traitor, and it would be best if the future king was spared from any unfortunate incident that may occur.
- Davidar, wisely, refrained from ever publishing the book, sparing himself the kind of embarrassment that haunts all writers who went with the first draft instead of dumping it in the dustbin.
- The Committee recognise that by admitting all the heads of charge, you have spared Mrs. A the further distress of appearing before the Committee.
- Even though God has spared me, I cannot be happy about what happened.
- 2.2spare oneselfwith negative Try to ensure or satisfy one's own comfort or needs.
in her concern to help others, she has never spared herself Example sentencesExamples - I am also impressed by the response and hard work of Mayo Co Council, particularly the outdoor staff who have not spared themselves at this critical time.
- A great communicator and a man of great imagination, novel ideas, and great generosity he has not spared himself in transforming the Diocese since he was consecrated in 1987.
- He was always the quiet one to lead by example, never sparing himself.
- That is asking a lot of a player who has been an ever constant for club and county since 1995, and during that eight year spell he has taken the knocks without murmur and has certainly not spared himself.
- A coach will use all his powers throughout a match - enlivening, cajoling, goading scolding or sympathizing where appropriate for the personality and the occasion, and not sparing himself until all is won or lost.
- He was extremely hardworking, never sparing himself in the performance of his duties and once he fainted in his office from exhaustion and almost died.
- You suspect that on the tee, England's fierce head coach might resemble the character from P G Wodehouse who ‘never spared himself in his efforts to do the ball a violent injury‘.
- No doubt Pat Grant will be lining himself up for a shot at the chair when it falls vacant in five years time, and meantime he'll not be sparing himself in his endeavours to prove his credentials.
- Alliss did not react well to such misfortune and does not spare himself in the telling of the saddest chapter of his endlessly eventful life.
- Perhaps he spares some of his friends and colleagues in the editing, but he has not spared himself.
3archaic no object Be frugal. but some will spend, and some will spare
Phrases 1informal Become extremely angry or distraught. he'd go spare if he lost the money Example sentencesExamples - The garden magpies are going spare just now, burying seeds and nuts in random places.
- Nine, Ten, and the ABC would go spare at that.
- Your mother actually sent me up, she's going spare downstairs.
- I was shocked to see that someone had been digging badgers out - I went spare and my wife had to calm me down.
- I'll be going spare, pleading with you, but you mustn't give in to me - no matter what.
- He used to go spare if anyone applied a handbrake without pressing the button on the end of the arm as he considered it the height of laziness to just pull the arm.
- At the time, Egan and his Chief of Staff, Michael Coutts Trotter, went spare; Egan was still railing against the Opposition's policy as late as October last year.
- If you were to accuse Patrick Egan or Wayne Ramsay of going spare they probably wouldn't argue with you.
- I'm scared and I'd much prefer to stay home and watch TV but I need money and I'll go spare otherwise.
- Their manager was going spare on the sidelines and a few of their players were having a go at each other.
- ‘He just went spare,’ says Dorrie, breaking down.
Synonyms become very angry, become enraged, go into a rage, lose one's temper 2informal Be unwanted or not needed and therefore available for use. I didn't have much money going spare Example sentencesExamples - We've left a spare day in our itinerary because we're sure something will go wrong.
- Tone works for an ICT charity and has several of these monitors going spare, they are fully depreciated and he's looking to find them a good home.
- If you've got a few bob and 250 hours construction time going spare, you too can be the proud owner of a kit ‘Hummingbird’ flying platform.
- The idea of being in competition with another woman for a man, especially when there are so many going spare, baffles me.
- If anyone has any blue glass bottles going spare, I could use them; I haven't quite got enough and the thought of having to drink Harvey's Bristol Cream to get some more is too much, really.
- I mentioned to him that if anything came his way, such a free tickets, passes et al then it would be great if he remembered me if any were going spare.
- Almost 62,000 seats were going spare across the nine Premiership matches at the weekend, which followed a significant drop in the crowds at the home midweek European ties involving Chelsea, Middlesbrough and Bolton.
- Luckily there was one table going spare, but already there were a healthy number of guests and locals tucking into meals.
- The man on the street seemed positive, he had loads going spare.
- The Rawdon club, Wharfedale's oldest, packed up senior football prior to the start of this season and one of the best grounds in the district was going spare.
- So, I have a bag of unsweetened desiccated coconut going spare.
- My friend Mouse had got so many tickets they cost (wait for it) £750 and he had rung me in something of a last minute fluster with one going spare.
Do everything one possibly can in order to achieve something. we will spare no effort to secure the release of the captives Example sentencesExamples - In Sligo we are fortunate to have fine coaches, who spare no effort in the preparation of athletes for national competition.
- Predictably, China will spare no efforts to block the process.
- The directors of almost all the parks are sparing no effort to draw in visitors with new attractions.
- Early last July, Economy Minister Nikolai Vassilev said the Government had spared no effort to help the owners immediately resume operation.
- In the itinerant persecution of Christians he spared no effort to stifle the spread of the gospel.
- Apart from personnel relocation, Huang also spared no effort to improve the work environment for the design team.
- A winner all the way was coach/trainer Mary Morrissey who spared no effort at training sessions to both teams.
- Private organizations promoting judicial reform also spared no effort to help.
- She was a woman who spared no effort to further the cause she believed in.
- Addressing a UN forum in Brasilia on Tuesday night, Silva vowed to spare no effort in the fight against corruption.
spare no expense (or no expense spared) Pay any amount in order to achieve something. Example sentencesExamples - Encouraged to publish her findings, she spared no expense in preparing the original paintings for a volume on Surinam.
- Still, he is known as an engineer/studio owner who will spare no expense to achieve the best sound.
- Mr. Harris had not spared any expense, especially now with his wife acting so strangely.
- It was all arranged by her husband Mattie who spared no expense for the lavish night.
- Korda apparently spared no expense to achieve the scope and look he had in mind.
- Owners of the Tokyo Prince Hotel Park Tower spared no expense in building the 33-story, 673-room luxury property in downtown Tokyo.
- Not only were the designs innovative, they were incredibly luxurious, for the designers of the interiors created specifically for the exposition spared no expense to install lavish furnishings.
- Conor was celebrating his wedding anniversary and told his wife, Mary he would treat her to lavish meal with no expense spared.
- The food is as refined as the surroundings - and like the proprietors, prepare to spare no expense to get the most from your dining experience.
- They light firecrackers at night and spare no expense in preparing the feast.
spare a thought for our volunteer group at Christmas Example sentencesExamples - O'Neill's is kindly sparing a thought for designated drivers on New Year's Eve, with free soft drinks.
- However, spare a thought for just how many other people's knowledge and opinions of events are being shaped by so few.
- We work on our computers every single day never sparing a thought for all those millions of chunks of data spread all over our hard disks.
- Generous readers are sparing a thought for others as they prepare themselves for Christmas.
- If you think things looked bleak in the first half of 2002, spare a thought for 28 October 1929, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 12.8%.
- We go about our blessed existence without even sparing a thought for him.
- Also can't help sparing a thought for the families of last year's tsunami victims for whom this must all still seem surreal.
- And spare a thought for all those others, whose names are a ball and chain they must pull after them through the wilderness of this world.
- Amid euphoric celebrations following last week's cut in interest rates, few of us spared a thought for savers, and even fewer remembered we are all savers through our pension schemes.
- In our rush for change, spare a thought for all those shoppers and business people who have walked the streets of Dublin before us.
that turkey will feed ten people with some to spare Example sentencesExamples - Twitching slightly, I mount the stairs and quietly slip into my spot in the storage facility, with not a moment to spare.
- He wasn't in his performance clothes, which usually meant he had some time to spare.
- So, if you have a three or four hours to spare what are you waiting for!
- "We had about 20 ft to spare at the end of the runway.
- If you want to follow a story, and you have time to spare, you can read, hear or see it in at least a hundred different versions.
- If you try and do it in your spare time, you very quickly realize that you have no spare time to spare for anything else.
- Her album is due out in mid-July and she only has a week to spare amid all the promotions, so she can't do both.
- I got there with seconds to spare and had enough time to clean up a little bit before there was a knock at me door.
- She got to the stable with fifteen minutes to spare, and made her way over to Eagle's stall.
- Jake arrived without a moment to spare, whisking me out of the driveway with a wink for Mason.
Synonyms left over, left, over, remaining, unused, unneeded, not required, still available, surplus to requirements
Origin Old English spær ‘not plentiful, meager’, sparian ‘refrain from injuring’, ‘refrain from using’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German sparen ‘to spare’. |