spruce
verb
\ ˈsprüs
\
\
spruced;
sprucing
Definition of spruce
(Entry 1 of 3)
: to make spruce
—often used with up
: to make oneself spruce
spruce up a bit
spruce
adjective
sprucer;
sprucest
Definition of spruce (Entry 2 of 3)
: neat or smart in appearance : trim
spruce
noun
plural spruces
also spruce
Definition of spruce (Entry 3 of 3)
1a
: any of a genus (Picea) of evergreen trees of the pine family with a conical head of dense foliage, flat or 4-sided needles, pendulous cones, and soft light wood
b
: any of several coniferous trees (such as Douglas fir) of similar habit
2
: the wood of a spruce
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Synonyms & Antonyms for spruce
Synonyms: Adjective
dapper, natty, sharp, smart, snappy
Antonyms: Adjective
disheveled (or dishevelled), frowsy (or frowzy), sloppy, slovenly, unkempt
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Examples of spruce in a Sentence
Adjective
He looked very spruce in his new suit. a slim, spruce man in a tailor-made business suitRecent Examples on the Web: Verb
Need a few decorative accents to spruce up your living room? — Monique Valeris, ELLE Decor, "Williams Sonoma's Brands Are Having a Huge One-Day Sale," 23 Aug. 2019 The school’s lonely arts district will be spruced up. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "With unexpected speed, UC San Diego raises $2 billion in donations to transform campus," 18 Aug. 2019 In 2016, the luxury brand Bulgari paid 1.5 million euros to restore the landmark, sprucing up nearly 32,300 square feet of stone, plaster, brick and marble. — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, "Per Favore, Do Not Sit On the Spanish Steps," 8 Aug. 2019 Remember, the Windows 10 Photos app already has an small arsenal of tools that can spruce up your photos: color filters, red-eye correction, portrait mode, and dust-eliminating spot fixes, among others. — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, "How to use Paint 3D's Magic Select tool to edit out photobombers from your photos," 29 July 2019 Plants and planters Don’t miss a single Prime Day deal to spruce up your home. — Kaitlin Clark, Curbed, "Top deals on outdoor furniture and patio accessories from Prime Day," 17 July 2019 Even overripe peaches find their way into versatile peach simple syrup to spruce up summer beverages, or to make supremely silky peach butter. — Kate Heddings, Washington Post, "How one couple made it cool to wait in line for 25-pound boxes of perfect summer peaches," 11 July 2019 From a friend’s beach house to a backyard barbecue, or simply home to family, bring something thoughtful along to spruce up the party table. — Anny Choi, Vogue, "20 Fourth of July Hostess Gift Ideas That Will Win You “Best Guest”," 27 June 2019 This recipe includes everyone's favorite berries, plus tea and mint leaves to spruce up the taste. — Woman's Day Kitchen, Woman's Day, "Berry-Black Tea Punch," 18 July 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective
Enthusiasm, thoughtful analysis and humor were part of her teaching style: plasticity of the upper body, spruce footwork and imaginative theatricality were her objectives. — Alastair Macaulay, New York Times, "Julia Farron, Acclaimed Ballerina From Age 14, Is Dead at 96," 24 July 2019 While spruce pollen is irritating to local residents, the massive pollen release could be a boon to the region’s forests, which have been decimated in recent years by beetle and aphid infestations brought on by rising temperatures. — The Economist, "Alaska’s changing climate," 4 July 2019 The site comprises deserts, riparian forests and floodplains of the Ili River, deciduous and spruce forests as well as salt marshes. — National Geographic, "UN Announces 23 New Nature Reserves While U.S. Removes 17," 14 June 2017 The site comprises deserts, riparian forests and floodplains of the Ili River, deciduous and spruce forests as well as salt marshes. — Alex Treadway, National Geographic, "UN Announces 23 New Nature Reserves While U.S. Removes 17," 14 June 2017 At this point, there’s nothing stopping the spruce beetle. — Bruce Finley, The Denver Post, "Spruce beetles pick up where their pine cousins left off, eating through 136K acres in past year," 25 Jan. 2017 A spruce hen aggressively defended her chicks from competitors. — Alaska Dispatch News, "Spruce hen not enough to slow Smith, Jolliff down for orienteering victories," 30 June 2017Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
Here in central Alaska, our spindly spruce trees open resinous cones to jump-start new seedlings when the parent tree is scorched. — Nancy Fresco, The Conversation, "Huge wildfires in the Arctic and far North send a planetary warning," 14 Aug. 2019 China then doubled the tariff on spruce as the trade war dragged on. — Mike Rogoway, oregonlive.com, "‘Warning signs’: Oregon industries’ anxiety grows over trade war with China," 27 July 2019 The best, softest toilet paper comes from softwood trees like pine and spruce, which Canada has plenty of. — Dan Nosowitz, Vox, "Who Gives a Crap," 17 July 2019 Eventually the spruces simply ran out of growing room. — Bonnie Blodgett, Twin Cities, "Blundering Gardener: The things you think of — and cry about — when gardening," 13 July 2019 Of course, spruce trees will really appreciate water. — Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, "Love the warm weather? Your plants will too - but only if you water them enough," 27 June 2019 The reduction in spruce will also allow a greater diversity of plants to grow in that area. — Madeline Mcgee, Anchorage Daily News, "Kenai Peninsula wildfire doubles in size but spreads away from populated areas," 14 June 2019 The new spruce trees gorged themselves on the groundwater out of the swamps, growing unusually wide canopies—which choked out the peat moss. — Ian Willms, National Geographic, "Tree-planting programs can do more harm than good," 26 Apr. 2019 From the bedroom to living room to kitchen, there are countless ideas to give your home a quick spruce. — Selena Barrientos, Good Housekeeping, "40 Creative Things to Do When You're Bored to Pass the Time," 23 May 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'spruce.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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