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spare

adjective · noun · verb

Simple meaning

Being more than what is necessary, or what must be used or reserved.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

spehr
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈspɛɹ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Being more than what is necessary, or what must be used or reserved; not wanted, or not used; superfluous.

  2. Held in reserve, to be used in an emergency.

  3. Sparing; frugal; parsimonious; not spending much money.

  4. Not occupied or in current use.

  5. Scant; not abundant or plentiful.

  6. Austere, stripped down, without what is extraneous.

noun

  1. The act of sparing; moderation; restraint.

  2. Parsimony; frugal use.

  3. A superfluous or second-best person.

  4. An opening in a petticoat or gown; a placket.

  5. That which has not been used or expended.

  6. canada

    A free period; a block of school during which one does not have a class.

verb

  1. To show mercy, to have mercy on.

  2. intransitive

    To desist; to stop; to refrain.

  3. intransitive

    To refrain from inflicting harm; to use mercy or forbearance.

  4. transitive

    To preserve (someone) from danger or punishment; to forbear to punish, injure, or harm (someone); to show mercy towards.

  5. transitive

    To keep to oneself; to forbear to impart or give.

  6. intransitive

    To be frugal; to not be profuse; to live frugally; to be parsimonious.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Being more than what is necessary, or what must be used or reserved; not wanted, or not used; superfluous.

Used this way, spare is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use spare

  • “I'll spare you from having to apologize formally.”verb
  • “He asked if they could spare one of their horses to speed his journey.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

spare partsspare room

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • spare partnounCompound term

    An extra component of a machine or other apparatus.

  • spare timenounCompound term

    Time available for hobbies and other activities that you enjoy.

  • spare-time activitynounCompound term

    An auxiliary activity.

  • spare tirenounCompound term

    Excess fat around the waistline.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

adjective

Sense: being more than what is necessary

redundantextrasupernumeraryexcessunnecessary

noun

Sense: sparing

reserve

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.