Laxi Dictionary

American Dictionary

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Definition spend in American English

spend verb

verb
/spend/

When you use spend with another verb, to talk about how someone uses their time or their money, use the -ing form of the verb, not the infinitive.

✗ Some people spend a lot of time to watch TV during the day.

✓ Some people spend a lot of time watching TV during the day.

✗ Many young people spend the whole day to play online games.

✓ Many young people spend the whole day playing online games.

When ong>spend timeong> or ong>spend moneyong> is followed by a noun, use the preposition on, not “for” or “in”:

✗ This money could be spent for other more important things.

✓ This money could be spent on other more important things.

✗ Students should consider their financial situation before they spend their money in goods.

✓ Students should consider their financial situation before they spend their money on goods.

1

to use money to pay for things

Example

How much money did you spend?

Example

This year we will spend more money for medical care.

Example

They spent about $600 just rebuilding the front porch.

Example

We're spending a lot more on food than we used to.

Synonyms and related words
disburse spend pay
2

to stay somewhere or to do something for a period of time

Example

We spent the day at the beach.

Example

I'll need to spend an hour rehearsing with the cast.

Example

How much time do you spend on homework?

Example

I'm going to spend Thanksgiving with my family.

Synonyms and related words
remain stay wait
3

to use your time, effort, or energy to do something

Example

Considerable energy is spent on making the costumes look perfect.

Synonyms and related words
repurpose use bring in spend pass fill
Definition spend in American English