spendverb
uk/spend/us/spend/spent, spentspend verb (MONEY)
A2 [ I or T ] to give money as a payment for something:
How much did you spend?
I don't know how I managed to spend so much in the club last night.
We spent a fortune when we were in New York.
She spends a lot of money on clothes.
We've just spent $1.9 million on improving our computer network.
We went on a spending spree (= we bought a lot of things) on Saturday.
More examples
- It may be fairly cheap to buy, but you've got to take into consideration the money you'll spend on repairs.
- The number of staff we can take on will be determined by how much money we're allowed to spend.
- I'm meant to be on an economy drive at the moment, so I'm trying not to spend too much.
- We are duty bound to justify how we spend our funds.
- The council has some spare cash which it proposes to spend on public amenities.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Paying money
- ante
- chargeable
- congestion charge
- demurrage
- disburse
- discharge
- disgorge
- fork
- fork out sth
- overspend
- pay up
- pick up the bill/tab idiom
- put sth down 1
- repayable
- self-financing
- sink
- spring
- square
- tip
- worth
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spend verb (TIME)
A2 [ T ] to use time doing something or being somewhere:
I think we need to spend more time together.
I spent a lot of time cleaning that room.
I've spent years building up my collection.
I spent an hour at the station waiting for the train.
How long do you spend on your homework?
My sister always spends ages in the bathroom.
We spent the weekend in Buenos Aires.
You can spend the night here if you like.
More examples
- Students learning computer studies spend two days each week in a computer lab and four days in the classroom.
- I have to spend three months of the year away from home - but there are compensations like the chance to meet new people.
- They were condemned to spend the rest of their lives in prison.
- It would be a crime to spend such a beautiful day indoors.
- We would spend every meal time entreating the child to eat her vegetables.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Spending time & time passing
- all the time in the world idiom
- Anno Domini
- course
- elapse
- employ
- fall
- fall away
- misspend
- pass
- passage
- passing
- run
- slip away
- spread sth over sth
- the sands of time are running out idiom
- tick
- tick away/by
- time and tide wait for no man idiom
- while
- while sth away
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spend verb (FORCE)
[ T ] to use energy, effort, force, etc., especially until there is no more left:
For the past month he's been spending all his energy trying to find a job.
They continued firing until all their ammunition was spent (= there was none of it left).
The hurricane will probably have spent most of its force (= most of its force will have gone) by the time it reaches the northern parts of the country.
Her anger soon spent itself (= stopped).
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Using and misusing
- adopt
- adoption
- advantage
- avail
- avail yourself of sth
- be/go heavy on sth idiom
- go into sth
- go through sth
- gobble sth up
- heavy
- make capital out of sth idiom
- max
- mine
- unused
- upcycle
- upcycling
- usable
- usage
- use
- wear
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Idiom(s)
spend a penny
spend the night together
spendnoun [ S ]
uk/spend/us/spend/UK informalthe amount of money that is spent on something:
The total spend on the project was almost a million pounds.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Costs & expenses
- aliment
- alimony
- asking price
- carrying charge
- charge
- compensation
- corkage
- cost an arm and a leg/a small fortune idiom
- cost-of-living index
- damage
- dent
- expense
- flat rate
- indirect cost
- maintenance
- price war
- running costs
- settlement
- stoppage
- worth
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