Spare (Verb)

Meaning ¹

Use frugally or carefully.

Classification

Verbs of eating and drinking.

Examples

• Turn off the lights to spare electricity and reduce the bill.
• She tries to spare water by taking shorter showers every day.
• Try to spare your voice and take a break from singing for a while.
• He learned to spare his money by creating a budget plan and sticking to it.
• The hikers had to spare food and ration it carefully to last the entire trip.

Hypernyms

• Expend

Meaning ²

Refrain from harming.

Classification

Verbs of political and social activities and events.

Examples

• The police officer was ordered to spare the life of the hostage taker during negotiations.
• The commander instructed his soldiers to spare the civilian population and target only the enemy combatants.
• The pirate captain threatened to spare no one on the ship that resisted his demands for treasure.
• The general spared no effort in preparing his troops for the impending battle.
• The judge was urged to spare the young offender from a lengthy prison sentence due to their good behavior.

Synonyms

• Save

Hypernyms

• Forbear

Hyponyms

• Favour

Related Words

• Sparer (noun)

Meaning ³

Save or relieve from an experience or action; "I'll spare you from having to apologize formally".

Classification

Verbs of political and social activities and events.

Examples

• I'll spare you the details of the accident, it's not a pleasant story.
• She decided to spare her family the trouble of a lengthy court battle.
• The company will spare its employees from layoffs by offering early retirement packages.
• He offered to spare me the embarrassment of losing by forfeiting the game.
• I'll spare you the long explanation, here's the short version.

Hypernyms

• Free
• Relieve

Meaning ⁴

Give up what is not strictly needed; "he asked if they could spare one of their horses to speed his journey".

Classification

Verbs of buying, selling, owning.

Examples

• She asked if they could spare one of their doctors to help with the emergency.
• To make ends meet, they were forced to spare nothing but the absolute essentials.
• He inquired if the neighbors could spare a cup of sugar to finish the recipe.
• Can you spare an hour of your time to help move our furniture this weekend.
• The company had to spare every penny during the financial crisis to stay afloat.

Synonyms

• Part With
• Give Up
• Dispense With