Meaning of “spend” in the English Dictionary

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"spend" in English

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spendverb

uk ​ /spend/ us ​ /spend/ spent, spent

spend verb (MONEY)

A2 [ I or T ] to give money as a payment for something:

How much did you spend?
I don't know how I managed to spend so much in the club last night.
We spent a fortune when we were in New York.
She spends a lot of money on clothes.
We've just spent $1.9 million on improving our computer network.
We went on a spending spree (= we bought a lot of things) on Saturday.

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spend verb (TIME)

A2 [ T ] to use time doing something or being somewhere:

I think we need to spend more time together.
I spent a lot of time cleaning that room.
I've spent years building up my collection.
I spent an hour at the station waiting for the train.
How long do you spend on your homework?
My sister always spends ages in the bathroom.
We spent the weekend in Buenos Aires.
You can spend the night here if you like.

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spend verb (FORCE)

› [ T ] to use energy, effort, force, etc., especially until there is no more left:

For the past month he's been spending all his energy trying to find a job.
They continued firing until all their ammunition was spent (= there was none of it left).
The hurricane will probably have spent most of its force (= most of its force will have gone) by the time it reaches the northern parts of the country.
Her anger soon spent itself (= stopped).

Thesaurus: synonyms and related words

Idiom(s)

spend a penny
spend the night together

spendnoun [ S ]

uk ​ /spend/ us ​ /spend/ UK informal

(Definition of “spend” from the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

"spend" in American English

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spendverb

us ​ /spend/ past tense and past participle spent /spent/

spend verb (MONEY)

› [ I/T ] to give money as a payment for something:

[ T ] We spent a lot of money on our vacation but we had a great time.

spend verb (TIME)

› [ T ] to use time; to allow time to go past:

It doesn’t look as if you spent very long on your homework.
I’ve spent many years building up my collection.
You can spend the night here if you like (= stay here for the night).

spend verb (FORCE)

› [ T ] to use energy, effort, force, etc., until there is no more left:

For the past month he’s been spending all his energy trying to find a job.

(Definition of “spend” from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

"spend" in Business English

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spendverb

uk ​ /spend/ us ​ spent, spent

› [ I or T ] to give money as a payment for something:

How much did you spend?
spend sth on sth We've just spent €1.9 million on improving our computer network.
We've spent too much money on advertising that isn't working.
We spent a fortune when we were in New York.

› [ T ] to use time doing something or being somewhere:

spend time doing sth They need to spend more time improving customer relations.
spend time on sth I spent a lot of time on that report.
How long do you spend at the computer each day?
spend years/ages I've spent years building up this company.
spend a day/week/year, etc. We spent last weekend working.

› [ T ] to use energy, effort, force, etc., especially until there is no more left:

For the past month he's been spending all his energy trying to find a job.

See also

overspend
tax-and-spend
underspend

spendnoun [ S ]

uk ​ /spend/ us ​ ECONOMICS, FINANCE

› the amount of money that is spent on a particular activity:

the spend on/for sth The total spend on the project was almost a million pounds.
If your company's annual spend on telephone calls exceeds $3,000, then it would be worth changing plans.
the total/actual spend BP will spend $1 billion more this year, raising the total spend to $15 billion.
advertising/marketing/promotional spend

See also

overspend
underspend

(Definition of “spend” from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Blogs about "spend"

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