adjective
-
economical or frugal (with)
-
scanty; meagre
-
merciful or lenient
Other Word Forms
- nonsparing adjective
- oversparing adjective
- oversparingness noun
- sparingly adverb
- sparingness noun
Etymology
Origin of sparing
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"Here its just material damage, money can fix it all. There, money can't fix life", he said, sparing a thought for the members of his community who lost relatives.
From Barron's
Today, in a supposedly more humane age, the perfect weapon is one that does minimum damage, sparing the innocent by targeting the guilty with maximum precision and surprise.
He also said that entry-level, front-line employees might still need to interact with customers, potentially sparing them from being displaced by AI.
From MarketWatch
The law firm said Sir Idris had a clean driving licence and was pleading guilty to the offence, sparing the cost of a trial.
From BBC
He said that CAF explained that it "wanted to protect the referee by sparing him pressure" but that meant that "we could no longer challenge him".
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
