| / English Dictionary |
SPARE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A score in tenpins; knocking down all ten after rolling two balls
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("spare" is a kind of...):
score (the act of scoring in a game or sport)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An extra car wheel and tire for a four-wheel vehicle
Synonyms:
fifth wheel; spare
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("spare" is a kind of...):
car wheel (a wheel that has a tire and rim and hubcap; used to propel the car)
Sense 3
Meaning:
An extra component of a machine or other apparatus
Synonyms:
spare; spare part
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("spare" is a kind of...):
component; constituent; element (an artifact that is one of the individual parts of which a composite entity is made up; especially a part that can be separated from or attached to a system)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Lacking embellishment or ornamentation
Example:
functional architecture featuring stark unornamented concrete
Synonyms:
bare; plain; spare; unembellished; unornamented
Classified under:
Similar:
unadorned; undecorated (not decorated with something to increase its beauty or distinction)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Lacking in magnitude or quantity
Example:
a spare diet
Synonyms:
bare; scanty; spare
Classified under:
Similar:
meager; meagerly; meagre; scrimpy; stingy (deficient in amount or quality or extent)
Derivation:
spareness (the property of being scanty or scattered; lacking denseness)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Thin and fit
Example:
a body kept trim by exercise
Synonyms:
spare; trim
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
lean; thin (lacking excess flesh)
Derivation:
spareness (the property of being scanty or scattered; lacking denseness)
Sense 4
Meaning:
More than is needed, desired, or required
Example:
surplus cheese distributed to the needy
Synonyms:
excess; extra; redundant; spare; supererogatory; superfluous; supernumerary; surplus
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unnecessary; unneeded (not necessary)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Kept in reserve especially for emergency use
Example:
spare parts
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unnecessary; unneeded (not necessary)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Not taken up by scheduled activities
Example:
spare time on my hands
Synonyms:
free; spare
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unoccupied (not held or filled or in use)
III. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they spare ... he / she / it spares
Past simple: spared
Past participle: spared
-ing form: sparing
Sense 1
Meaning:
Use frugally or carefully
Classified under:
Hypernyms (to "spare" is one way to...):
expend; use (use up, consume fully)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 2
Meaning:
Give up what is not strictly needed
Example:
he asked if they could spare one of their horses to speed his journey
Synonyms:
dispense with; give up; part with; spare
Classified under:
Verbs of buying, selling, owning
Hypernyms (to "spare" is one way to...):
give (transfer possession of something concrete or abstract to somebody)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 3
Meaning:
Refrain from harming
Synonyms:
save; spare
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "spare" is one way to...):
forbear; refrain (resist doing something)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "spare"):
favor; favour (treat gently or carefully)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s something
Sentence example:
They spare him from writing the letter
Derivation:
sparer (someone who refrains from injuring or destroying)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Save or relieve from an experience or action
Example:
I'll spare you from having to apologize formally
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "spare" is one way to...):
exempt; free; relieve (grant relief or an exemption from a rule or requirement to)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody something
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Context examples:
I will spare you the trouble of much talking; I will answer for you—Because I have a wife already, you would reply.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Then, I'll have my spare time for study and for real work.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
“Doctor,” I said, you might spare me.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
I desire you to spare no expense and no pains to get at the truth.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“Be assured, sir,” said he, “no pains or exertions on my part shall be spared to discover the villain.”
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
See that no pains be spared.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
We have no space for them, and if we hold our own we shall have horses and to spare when this day's work is done.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
DTPA may chelate metallic moieties of unbound, extracellular radioimmunotherapeutics, thereby aggregating radioimmunotherapeutics locally to higher concentrations, and improving tumor cell radiocytotoxicity, while sparing normal tissues from the radiocytotoxic effects.
(Pentetic Acid, NCI Thesaurus)
Vascular-targeted photodynamic therapy (VTP) with padeliporfin may allow tumor-site specific cytotoxicity while sparing adjacent normal tissues.
(Padeliporfin, NCI Thesaurus)
Tumor-cell selective expression of this toxin leads to the selective destruction of the tumor while sparing healthy, normal cells.
(BC-819 Plasmid/Polyethylenimine Complex, NCI Thesaurus)
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