spare
verb/speə(r)/
/sper/
Verb Forms
Idioms | present simple I / you / we / they spare | /speə(r)/ /sper/ |
| he / she / it spares | /speəz/ /sperz/ |
| past simple spared | /speəd/ /sperd/ |
| past participle spared | /speəd/ /sperd/ |
| -ing form sparing | /ˈspeərɪŋ/ /ˈsperɪŋ/ |
- to make something such as time or money available to somebody or for something, especially when it requires an effort for you to do this
- spare something/somebody I'd love to have a break, but I can't spare the time just now.
- spare something/somebody to do something Could you spare one of your staff to help us out?
- spare something/somebody for somebody/something We can only spare one room for you.
- You should spare a thought for (= think about) the person who cleans up after you.
- He was late, but he spared a glance for the pretty girl at the desk.
- spare somebody something Surely you can spare me a few minutes?
Extra Examples- Can you spare a second to give me a hand?
- Can you spare some money for our campaign for a new village hall?
- She hardly spared him a second glance.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- barely
- hardly
- can
- could
- for
- to spare
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- to save somebody/yourself from having to go through an unpleasant experience
- spare somebody/yourself something He wanted to spare his mother any anxiety.
- Please spare me (= do not tell me) the gruesome details.
- You could have spared yourself an unnecessary trip by phoning in advance.
- spare somebody/yourself from something She was spared from the ordeal of appearing in court.
- (formal) to allow somebody/something to escape harm, damage or death, especially when others do not escape it
- spare somebody/something They killed the men but spared the children.
- She begged them to spare her life.
- During the bombing only one house was spared (= was not hit by a bomb).
- The storm largely spared Houston and surrounding districts.
- spare somebody/something from something The children were spared from the virus.
- spare somebody/something sth Hong Kong was spared a direct hit, but the storm still brought heavy rains and powerful winds.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- largely
- mercifully
- from
- spare no effort, expense, etc. to do everything possible to achieve something or to do something well without trying to limit the time or money involved
- He spared no effort to make her happy again.
- No expense was spared in furnishing the new office.
- not spare yourself to work as hard as possible
time/money/room/thought, etc.
save somebody pain/trouble
not harm/damage
no effort/expense, etc.
work hard
Word OriginOld English spær ‘not plentiful, meagre’, sparian ‘refrain from injuring’, ‘refrain from using’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German sparen ‘to spare’.
Idioms
See spare in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee spare in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishspare somebody’s blushes
- (British English) to save somebody from an embarrassing situation
- A last minute goal spared their blushes.
spare somebody’s feelings
- to be careful not to do or say anything that might upset somebody
- I kept off the subject of divorce so as to spare her feelings.
to spare
- if you have time, money, etc. to spare, you have more than you need
- I've got absolutely no money to spare this month.
- We arrived at the airport with five minutes to spare.
Extra Examples- We should get there with half an hour to spare.
- Have you any money to spare?
Check pronunciation:
spare