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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 The privacy extends to the luxury categories where Gen Z spends most heavily. — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 8 Oct. 2026 The ‘closer’ Today, as a first-year resident in Boston, Carleton spends most of his time treating patients. — Allessandra Dicorato, STAT, 8 Oct. 2026 The experiment must scan across a range of possible axion masses, which makes the amount of time the equipment spends collecting data particularly important. — Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 7 Oct. 2026 Caminero is one of those players who, even amid a 162-game season, spends his off days watching baseball. — Hannah Keyser, CNN Money, 7 Oct. 2026 Faddis said the cost would depend on how much someone spends on taxable purchases in Lincoln. — Carmela Karcher, CBS News, 7 Oct. 2026 Having a big brand name and a commissioner who spends most of his time making inaccurate arguments on ESPN does not mean anything. — Ian Miller Outkick, FOXNews.com, 5 Oct. 2026 But the worst of Najya’s schools spends $52,349 a student annually, far above the national average. — The Week Us, TheWeek, 5 Oct. 2026 However, Mahomes still spends some time with baseball, helping coach his 3-year-old son, Bronze play the game. — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 30 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for spends

Verb

All four embrace their Crew-13 designation that pays homage in their mission patch to Apollo 13.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 2 Oct. 2026
Murphy executive produces both series while shepherding his slate under the overall deal at 20th TV, which pays his overhead.

— Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of pays

Verb

The chips are power-hungry (a ChatGPT AI query consumes about ten times as much energy as a normal Google search) and also generate a lot of heat, which requires cooling systems.

— The Week UK, TheWeek, 27 Sep. 2026
Maneuvering consumes energy, and atmospheric flight produces substantial heating and drag.

— Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 27 Sep. 2026

Definition of consumes

Verb

Nepal, which has reported about 26 Glacial Lake Outburst Flood events in the past four decades, loses more than 300 lives and property worth millions of dollars to extreme climate events annually on average.

— Reuters, NBC news, 2 Oct. 2026
During peak season, these rules determine whether AI books the right job, creates extra work for dispatch or loses the customer.

— Michael Fox, Forbes.com, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of loses

Verb

That range gives a launcher positioned on Yonaguni the ability to threaten ships operating across a substantial area around the island and toward Taiwan.

— Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 4 Oct. 2026
Everyone here almost too respectfully gives one another their turn to speak, the conversation rarely fomenting into argument or overlapping chatter.

— Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 3 Oct. 2026

Definition of gives

Verb

If a bureaucratic process exhausts whatever time a citizen has available, then benefits are lost or rights are denied.

— Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 14 Aug. 2026
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

Definition of exhausts

Verb

Until, suddenly, the life drains from his eyes, sometimes for barely a second, and returning before anyone else in the scene notices.

— Clayton Davis, Variety, 6 Oct. 2026
The all-in-one dock cleans the spinning dual mops with hot water, dries them with warm air to prevent musty smells, and automatically drains and refills the water tank.

— Juhi Wadia, PC Magazine, 29 Sep. 2026

Definition of drains

Verb

Instead of entering the bloodstream through a shot, the peptide absorbs across the tissue lining the mouth.

— Samantha Agate, Sacbee.com, 7 Oct. 2026
The work focuses on a loss mechanism known as Boltzmann loss, which occurs because a material that absorbs light can also emit it.

— Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 7 Oct. 2026

Definition of absorbs

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“Spends.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spends. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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