SPENDS Synonyms: 98 Similar and Opposite Words

spends

verb

present tense third-person singular of spend

as in pays

to hand over or use up in payment I always end up spending too much money at the mall

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in consumes

to make complete use of the town has already spent its budget for snow removal, and it's only January

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as in loses

to use up carelessly spent all his energy on impractical schemes

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of spends In other words, someone who exercises regularly but also spends many hours each day watching television still has additional risks for worse cognitive health because of their passive sedentary behavior. — Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 8 Aug. 2026 Pizzini explained that because Carol spends so much of the story barricaded inside, the home was designed with an interior atrium to preserve natural light after the windows were shuttered. — Deadline, 7 Aug. 2026 Stajmiger spends time in the makeup chair before slipping into Beetlejuice's signature costume, completing the transformation from actor to one of Broadway's most recognizable characters. — Dillon Thomas, CBS News, 7 Aug. 2026 The result is an AI stack that spends according to what the task actually needs, not what the employee happened to click. — Vinay Kuruvila, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026 One Night Only spends nearly its entire run time scoffing at the idea that Americans would ever be principled enough to take a stand against the incremental encroachment of fascist policies. — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 7 Aug. 2026 Also, what would happen to the College Sports Commission, the main NIL enforcement arm that spends the bulk of its time analyzing third-party NIL deals that would be greatly reduced under this arrangement? — ABC News, 31 July 2026 Each day Mark Beard spends in recovery is a reminder of what could have been. — Katie Whyatt, New York Times, 31 July 2026 This pillow is ideal for anyone who spends a lot of time on the road. — Bestreviews, Mercury News, 31 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for spends

Verb

Every year, the Community Services District pays for engineer’s reports that outline each LLAD’s budget and calculate how the costs will be divided among property owners.

— Haley Parsley August 9, Sacbee.com, 9 Aug. 2026
Risk maps and early warning systems cost relatively little, and a storage park pays a dividend every dry day as ordinary public space.

— Ravi S. Bhalla, New York Daily News, 9 Aug. 2026

Definition of pays

Verb

Higher follower counts and active social engagement attract major brand sponsors, even if a viewer consumes clips rather than full episodes.

— Frank Racioppi, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026
Murrill told lawmakers last year that defending the state against these claims consumes an enormous amount of time and resources and that the fund should be abolished altogether.

— Richard A. Webster, ProPublica, 6 Aug. 2026

Definition of consumes

Verb

If a contractor loses enough workers to delay a project, the demand for everyone else on that project can fall with them.

— Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 7 Aug. 2026
One core argument is that because roster spots are fixed and because fall rosters are largely set by this point in the summer, an athlete from the class returning to college and taking a roster spot would harm the player who loses the spot.

— Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 7 Aug. 2026

Definition of loses

Verb

British Columbia Emergency Management Minister Kelly Greene said the state of emergency gives the province additional powers, including the ability to restrict travel and secure accommodations for evacuees that might otherwise be unavailable.

— ABC News, ABC News, 8 Aug. 2026
Legal experts say four pending federal cases — one of them filed last week — are moving forward at a time when the conservative majority on the Supreme Court gives opponents of citizen suits a greater chance than ever of success.

— Michael Phillis, Fortune, 8 Aug. 2026

Definition of gives

Verb

That’s because even ordinary winds – and far worse, storms and earthquakes – cause tall buildings to sway, which ruins people’s concentration, wrecks their mood, and even exhausts them.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 24 July 2026
Watching this scene, and much of the film, exhausts me.

— Jenny Odell, Longreads, 2 June 2026

Definition of exhausts

Verb

Every square inch of land on Earth’s surface receives precipitation, and much of it drains out, eventually, to an ocean or lake.

— Natalie Wolchover, Quanta Magazine, 10 Aug. 2026
This can be in a low spot in your yard that always drains poorly, or under a roof awning or near a gutter that is likely to overflow.

— Lauren Landers, The Spruce, 10 Aug. 2026