spare

Meaning

1. Scant; not abundant or plentiful.
2. Austere, stripped down, without what is extraneous.
3. Sparing; frugal; parsimonious; not spending much money.
4. Being more than what is necessary, or what must be used or reserved; not wanted, or not used; superfluous.
5. Held in reserve, to be used in an emergency.
6. Not occupied or in current use.
7. Lean; lacking flesh; meager; thin; gaunt.
8. (informal) Very angry; frustrated or distraught.

save

reserve

be economical with

not waste

use carefully

yield

be sparing with

husband one’s resources

think a pity

careful with

control oneself

deny oneself

go without

have mercy

restrain oneself

use sparingly

show mercy

be weary of

use part of something

give relief

give relief to

reserve equipment

backup unit

hate

😡

cause to remain

be temperate

in excess

abstain from something

leave as a remainder

be abstemious

slab sided

abstain

be sorry about

have mercy on

raw boned

ready-for-use

repent of

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈspɛə(ɹ)/

From Middle English spare, spar, from Old English spær (“sparing, scant”), from Proto-Germanic *sparaz, from Proto-Indo-European *sph₁rós, from the root *speh₁-. Compare Dutch spaar(zaam), German spar(sam) and spär(lich), Swedish spar(sam), Icelandic sparr (“sparing”); also Latin (pro)sperus (“lucky”), Old Church Slavonic споръ (sporŭ, “plentiful”), Albanian shperr (“earn money”), Persian سپار (sepâr, “entrust; deposit”), Ancient Greek σπαρνός (sparnós, “rare”), Sanskrit स्फिर (sphirá, “thick”).