spared

Spared is the past tense and past participle of the verb spare. It is used to indicate that someone or something has been kept safe from harm, danger, or burden, or that mercy or leniency was shown by not inflicting harm, punishment, or obligation. It can also mean that something was saved for later use or kept in reserve.

In usage, spared appears in active and passive constructions. Examples include: "The city was spared from destruction," indicating protection from harm, and "Her life was spared," showing mercy. A sentence in the past tense, such as "The king spared the prisoner from execution," uses spared as the main verb. The phrase "spared no expense" is a common idiom in which the subject is the doer of the action, as in "The project spared no expense" (more commonly, "The project spared no expense" is used in past-tense narration). In general, spare and spared convey intentional mercy, avoidance of harm, or deliberate conservation of resources.

Etymology traces the word to Old English and related West Germanic languages, with the sense evolving over time to cover saving from harm, avoiding obligation, and conserving resources. The related forms spare, sparing, and spare part reflect the broad semantic field of protection, restraint, and additional or leftover items.

See also: spare, sparing, spare parts, spare time. The term is widely used in legal, historical, literary, and everyday contexts to describe withholding harm, granting mercy, or conserving something for future use.