noun
- An extra component of a machine or other apparatus.
- synonyms: spare part
- An extra car wheel and tire for a four-wheel vehicle.
- synonyms: fifth wheel
- A score in tenpins; knocking down all ten after rolling two balls.
verb
- Refrain from harming.
- synonyms: save
- Save or relieve from an experience or action.
- usage: "I'll spare you from having to apologize formally"
- Give up what is not strictly needed.
- usage: "he asked if they could spare one of their horses to speed his journey"
- synonyms: give up, part with, dispense with
- Use frugally or carefully.
adjective
- Thin and fit.
- usage: "the spare figure of a marathon runner"; "a body kept trim by exercise"
- synonyms: trim
- More than is needed, desired, or required.
- usage: "trying to lose excess weight"; "found some extra change lying on the dresser"; "yet another book on heraldry might be thought redundant"; "skills made redundant by technological advance"; "sleeping in the spare room"; "supernumerary ornamentation"; "it was supererogatory of her to gloat"; "delete superfluous (or unnecessary) words"; "extra ribs as well as other supernumerary internal parts"; "surplus cheese distributed to the needy"
- synonyms: excess, extra, redundant, supererogatory, superfluous, supernumerary, surplus
- Not taken up by scheduled activities.
- usage: "a free hour between classes"; "spare time on my hands"
- synonyms: free
- Kept in reserve especially for emergency use.
- usage: "a reserve supply of food"; "a spare tire"; "spare parts"
- Lacking in amplitude or quantity.
- usage: "a bare livelihood"; "a scanty harvest"; "a spare diet"
- Lacking embellishment or ornamentation.
- usage: "a plain hair style"; "unembellished white walls"; "functional architecture featuring stark unornamented concrete"
- synonyms: plain, bare, unembellished, unornamented
WordNet 3.0 © 2006 by Princeton University
| APA | WordNet. (2010). spare. Retrieved September 20, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/spare/definitions/1184052 |
| Chicago | WordNet. 2010. "spare" http://smartdefine.org/spare/definitions/1184052 (accessed September 20, 2026). |
| Harvard | WordNet 2010, spare, Smart Define, viewed 20 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/spare/definitions/1184052>. |
| MLA | WordNet. "spare" 23 October 2010. Web. 20 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/spare/definitions/1184052> |