spend

- definition

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Thesaurus

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verb

/spend/

present tense
I/you/we/they	spend
he/she/it	spends
present participle	spending
past tense	spent
past participle	spent

Related dictionary definitions

spend money like there was no tomorrow

Get It Right!

1
[intransitive/transitive] to use money to pay for things
How much money did you spend?
spend for:
This year we will spend more money for medical care.
spend something doing something:
They spent about $600 just rebuilding the front porch.
spend something on something:
We’re spending a lot more on food than we used to.
Thesaurus entry for this meaning of spend
2
[transitive] to stay somewhere or to do something for a period of time
We spent the day at the beach.
spend something doing something (with someone):
I’ll need to spend an hour rehearsing with the cast.
spend time on something:
How much time do you spend on homework?
spend something with someone:
I’m going to spend Thanksgiving with my family.
Thesaurus entry for this meaning of spend
3
[transitive] [often passive] to use your time, effort, or energy to do something
Considerable energy is spent on making the costumes look perfect.
Thesaurus entry for this meaning of spend

phrase

spend the night with someone
1. 1
  to have sex with someone and stay with them all night
  Thesaurus entry for this meaning of spend
2. 2
  to sleep at someone’s house for one night
  We’re spending the night with friends.
  Thesaurus entry for this meaning of spend

Get It Right!: spend

When you use spend with another verb, to talk about how someone uses their time or their money, use the -ing form of the verb, not the infinitive.

✗ Some people spend a lot of time to watch TV during the day.

✓ Some people spend a lot of time watching TV during the day.

✗ Many young people spend the whole day to play online games.

✓ Many young people spend the whole day playing online games.

When spend time or spend money is followed by a noun, use the preposition on, not “for” or “in”:

✗ This money could be spent for other more important things.

✓ This money could be spent on other more important things.

✗ Students should consider their financial situation before they spend their money in goods.

✓ Students should consider their financial situation before they spend their money on goods.

This is the American English definition of spend. View British English definition of spend.

Change your default dictionary and thesaurus to British English.

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