spend
[verb]
Synonyms:
- pay out, disburse, expend, fork out (slang)
- pass, fill, occupy, while away
- use up, consume, dissipate, drain, empty, exhaust, run through, squander, waste

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Antonyms: save
Related Words: blow, drop, hand out, contribute, consume, dissipate, lavish, squander, throw away, waste

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English Thesaurus: spend, go through something, go to great expense, squander, splash out, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

spend S1 W1 /spend/ verb (past tense and past participle spent /spent/)
[Date: 1100-1200; Origin: Partly from Latin expendere ( ⇒ expend) and partly, later, from Old French despendre, from Latin dispendere 'to weigh out']

1. MONEY [intransitive and transitive] to use your money to pay for goods or services:
I can’t afford to spend any more money this week.
spend £5/$10 etc
I only want to spend about $20.
spend something on something
More money should be spent on education.
spend something on somebody
Mum never spends any money on herself.
The repairs cost a lot, but it’s money well spent (=a sensible way of spending money).

2. TIME [transitive] to use time doing a particular thing or pass time in a particular place
spend time etc with somebody
I want to spend more time with my family.
spend time etc in/at something
We’ll have to spend the night in a hotel.
His childhood was spent in Brazil.
spend time etc doing something
Stacey spends all her free time painting.

3.
a) spend the night with somebody to stay for the night and have sex with someone
b) spend the night (at something) if someone spends the night at someone’s house, they sleep at that person’s house for a night:
She spent the night at a friend’s house.

4. FORCE/EFFORT [transitive] to use effort or energy to do something:
I love to cook, but I don’t feel like spending the energy every evening.

5. spend a penny British English spoken old-fashioned to urinate – used when you want to avoid saying this directly

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

spend
verb
ADV. wisely Try to be objective if you want to spend your money wisely.
lavishly
PREP. on The company spent a lot on advertising.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

spend
verb
1.
BAD: They don't have any money to spend for luxuries.
GOOD: They don't have any money to spend on luxuries.
BAD: He spends everything he earns for his children.
GOOD: He spends everything he earns on his children.

Usage Note:
spend your time/money/$12/£5 etc + on sb/sth (NOT for ): 'I spend about half my salary on food.' 'You should spend more time on your homework.'

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2.
BAD: Parents should spend more time to look after their children.
GOOD: Parents should spend more time looking after their children.
BAD: I never spend more than an hour a day for studying.
GOOD: I never spend more than an hour a day studying.
BAD: She spends most of her free time on reading.
GOOD: She spends most of her free time reading.

Usage Note:
spend your time/five minutes/two days etc + doing sth : 'She spends all her time working on her thesis.'

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3.
See TIME 10 (time), 9

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

spend to use money to buy things:
I bought two skirts and a T-shirt and I only spent $50.
How much do you spend a week on food?
go through something (also get through something British English) to spend all of an amount of money over a period of time – used especially when saying that someone spends a lot of money:
I got through all my money in less than a month, and had to get my parents to send me more.
go to great expense to spend a lot of money in order to do something, because you think it is important or special:
The party was wonderful – they had obviously gone to great expense.
There’s no need to go to great expense.
squander /ˈskwɒndə $ ˈskwɑːndər/ to waste money on unnecessary things, instead of saving it or using it carefully:
His son had squandered the family fortune on gambling and women.
splash out British English informal to spend a lot of money on something you really want or will enjoy:
Let’s splash out on a bottle of champagne.
People often splash out for Christmas and then regret it later.
blow informal to spend a lot of money on something, especially on something that you do not really need:
Her husband blew all their savings on a new sports car.
economize to spend less money:
We’re trying to economize by eating at home instead of going out for meals.
a big/major/serious/heavy blow
The earthquake was a serious blow to the area’s tourism industry.
a severe/terrible/awful blow
The news was a terrible blow for his family.
a bitter blow (=extremely disappointing)
Their defeat was a bitter blow.
a cruel/devastating/crushing blow (=extremely hard to bear)
Her loss came as a devastating blow to her father.
a body blow (=a very serious difficulty which could cause something to fail completely)
A tax on books would be a body blow for education.
a mortal/fatal/death blow (=causing something to end)
When he quit it dealt a mortal blow to the show.
be a blow
I can’t deny his leaving was a blow.
deal a blow to somebody/something
The 1982 drought dealt a devastating blow to the country.
come as a blow to somebody
His sudden death came as a huge blow to us all.
deliver a blow
Opinion polls delivered a nasty blow to the Tory leader.
suffer/receive a blow
Our team suffered a blow when Paul was sent off the field.
soften/cushion the blow (=make it easier to deal with)
There are various ways to soften the blow of redundancy among staff.
be a bit of a blow British English especially spoken (=be disappointing or cause problems for you)
The result was a bit of a blow for the team.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲