[
UK
/spˈeə/
]
[ US /ˈspɛɹ/ ]
[ US /ˈspɛɹ/ ]
ADJECTIVE
-
kept in reserve especially for emergency use
spare parts
a spare tire
a reserve supply of food -
more than is needed, desired, or required
extra ribs as well as other supernumerary internal parts
yet another book on heraldry might be thought redundant
found some extra change lying on the dresser
supernumerary ornamentation
sleeping in the spare room
trying to lose excess weight
surplus cheese distributed to the needy
skills made redundant by technological advance
delete superfluous (or unnecessary) words
it was supererogatory of her to gloat -
lacking in magnitude or quantity
a bare livelihood
a spare diet
a scanty harvest -
lacking embellishment or ornamentation
a plain hair style
functional architecture featuring stark unornamented concrete
unembellished white walls -
not taken up by scheduled activities
spare time on my hands
a free hour between classes -
thin and fit
a body kept trim by exercise
the spare figure of a marathon runner
VERB
-
give up what is not strictly needed
he asked if they could spare one of their horses to speed his journey - use frugally or carefully
- refrain from harming
-
save or relieve from an experience or action
I'll spare you from having to apologize formally
NOUN
- a score in tenpins; knocking down all ten after rolling two balls
- an extra component of a machine or other apparatus
- an extra car wheel and tire for a four-wheel vehicle
How To Use spare In A Sentence
- We carried spare water for the rad, a hand pump just in case the Dunlop pressure dropped, and maybe even a canister of petrol.
- A perfect mob of street urchins, loafers, shop-men and bar-keepers who could spare a bit of time, lined up in front of the Palace Hotel and watched the plaid-coated, gray-capped visitors in short knickerbockers and golf stockings puff their pipes around the bar and call for "Porter and h'ale, 'alf and The Transformation of Job A Tale of the High Sierras
- We would have make it earlier, but I procrastinated with completed and sealed ballots sitting on my desk for a couple of days -- no good excuse, but the reminders to spare the GOTC callers (and ourselves) reminder calls goosed me into action. BlueOregon
- He drew with his brush in transparent glaze and build up form with multiple stokes.
- My constant fear is that we're going to run out of writers in Chicago, " said Mr. Griffith, 27, who in his spare time is a theater critic for The Chicago Reader, an alternative paper.
- They proposed a modest change to the presentation of the accounts to improve transparency but not disclosing the exact payment to Dr Saunders. Times, Sunday Times
- The hospitable host had his spare room emptied very quickly for the honoured guest.
- Everything from tobacco sacks and cigarette papers to a spare cinch and a rope, from a change of clothes to a picture of his family or his girl, from old letters and reading material to a marlinespike, was kept in it. This Calder Range
- It floods the car with light and on a hot day there's a button that can turn it from transparent to opaque. Times, Sunday Times
- But the public life of the capital commanded his love, his seemingly inexhaustible energy and much of his spare time. Times, Sunday Times
