Meaning & use

spend

verb·Everyday

To pay out money in exchange for goods or services, or to use up time or effort on something.

See it in a sentence

They spent nearly two hundred dollars on groceries for the week.

She spent the whole afternoon reorganizing the garage instead of relaxing like she had planned.

A note on using this word

Spend takes money as its most common object, but it also works naturally with time, energy, or effort.

Words with a similar meaning

pay outexpenduse up

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

saveearn

Make it your own

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