SPENDING Synonyms: 98 Similar and Opposite Words

spending

verb

present participle of spend

as in paying

to hand over or use up in payment I always end up spending too much money at the mall

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in consuming

to make complete use of the town has already spent its budget for snow removal, and it's only January

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in wasting

to use up carelessly spent all his energy on impractical schemes

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 spending The actress was recently photographed while spending some time in the Hamptons last Friday, just weeks after turning 91. — Lori A Bashian, FOXNews.com, 25 Oct. 2026 But for our customers, spending time in a boring appliance of a car might be the real madness. — New Atlas, 25 Oct. 2026 Expansion continues The university is now spending nearly $300 million to renovate a 170,000-square-foot building that sits on nine acres near Los Angeles International Airport. — Melody Petersen, Los Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 2026 One of them is José Antonio Bañuelos-Díaz, 42, who applied for citizenship in October 2025 after living in the country for 40 years and spending his entire adult life as a legal permanent resident. — Arkansas Online, 24 Oct. 2026 Both parties are spending on campaigns in Republican area that normally would not be competitive. — ABC News, 24 Oct. 2026 The district was previously spending around $500,000 per year to rent space for employees who didn’t fit on its Garden City campus. — Mark Dee, Idaho Statesman, 24 Oct. 2026 After arriving at the hospital and spending nearly an hour with hospital staff filling out paperwork, I was handed another form accepting financial responsibility. — Scott Levenson, New York Daily News, 18 Oct. 2026 How successful will the job interview go after spending the day in the Florida sun? — Chris Ham, The Orlando Sentinel, 18 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for spending

Verb

The claims paying organizations that are best prepared to navigate this evolving environment will be those that combine uniform eligibility review, defensible payment rationales, dispute tracking and outcome analysis into a single cohesive process.

— Christine Cooper, Forbes.com, 20 Oct. 2026
Many passengers have come to accept no frills flying, paying for every extra beyond a seat.

— Alexandra Skores, CNN Money, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of paying

Verb

That marks a decline from the 2002–2004 period, when 79% of Catholics reported consuming alcoholic beverages.

— Khloe Quill, FOXNews.com, 25 Oct. 2026
Adding the 11-tap receiver equalizer increased the rate to 200 Gb/s, with the modulator consuming 63 fJ per bit.

— Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of consuming

Verb

The challenge is integrating these capabilities into a defense that can quickly identify threats, select an appropriate response, and avoid wasting expensive interceptors on inexpensive drones.

— Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 25 Oct. 2026
The city of Milwaukee waited 46 years to see its team in the Fall Classic, and this year's Brewers wanted to stop wasting time.

— Ryan Morik OutKick, FOXNews.com, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of wasting

Verb

Ahead of the 2022 election, the prime minister helped broker an alliance between Ben-Gvir’s party and Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism, giving Netanyahu enough seats to assemble a government.

— Eric Cortellessa, Time, 22 Oct. 2026
Sánchez Bezos, the fund’s vice chair since its early days, has become a more visible face of the couple’s giving.

— Sydney Lake, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of giving

Verb

That means removing plants, mud and debris from boats, trailers and equipment; draining water from compartments; and allowing equipment to dry completely.

— Daniel Hunt, Sacbee.com, 23 Oct. 2026
Secretly draining shared savings or hiding major debt are obvious betrayals.

— Jenna Ryu, Washington Post, 23 Oct. 2026

Definition of draining

Verb

Aside from briefly losing the seat for one term nearly a decade ago, Valadao has hung onto the seat.

— Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times, 24 Oct. 2026
For this year’s show at Compton Verney, Cadogan has taken inspiration from British people who’ve written to her about losing beloved trees in their own gardens, or public spaces.

— Samantha Conti, Footwear News, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of losing

Verb

So, get ready for mountain vistas and exhausting cycling days to take your breath away and questions about your life choices to swirl around in your head!

— Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 17 Oct. 2026
On the third bike was Jenny Brookes, Zero's senior global brand manager, who rode a standard DSR/X adventure bike for approximately 239 miles (384 km) before exhausting its battery.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of exhausting

Verb

Climate policies are reducing emissions Since the adoption of the Paris Agreement just over a decade ago, global renewable electricity capacity has grown three times faster than anticipated, while solar PV build-out has increased seven times faster.

— Simmone Shah, Time, 21 Oct. 2026
The filter also makes the page look like a poster left too long in the sun, washing it out and reducing contrast compared to monochrome e-readers.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of reducing

Browse Nearby Words

spenders

spending

spending money

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Cite this Entry

Style

“Spending.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spending. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of spending

verb

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