Definition of "spare" []

To refrain from treating harshly; treat mercifully or leniently. (verb-transitive)
To refrain from harming or destroying. (verb-transitive)
To save or relieve from experiencing or doing (something): spared herself the trouble of going. (verb-transitive)
To hold back from; withhold or avoid: spared no expense for the celebration. (verb-transitive)
To use with restraint: Don't spare the mustard. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "spare" in a sentence

"III. ii.44 (306, 5) [I would spare] To _spare_ any thing is to _let it go. to quit the possession of it."
"DAVIDSON: You would have to take a spare job -- what they call a spare hand in those days."
"In what she called her spare time she was engaged in the endless task of repairing and extending her forlorn little shanties."

Words like "spare"

lean meager meagerly meagre

scrimpy spared sparely spareness

spares stingy thin unadorned

undecorated unnecessary unneeded unoccupied