What does "spar" mean?
A rafter of a roof.
Spar
/spɑɹ/ name, noun, phrase, verb
name, noun, phrase, verb ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A rafter of a roof.
- Grammar: spar is listed as name, noun, phrase, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: abstemious, alabaster, altercate, argue.
- Useful contrasts: agree, avoid, concur.
- Usage evidence: During my days of combat training in the mountains, I had to spar daily with my peers.
How to use "spar"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "spar" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "spar" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "spar" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "spar" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "spar" is acting as name, noun, phrase, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "abstemious" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "spar", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A rafter of a roof.
- 2 A sparring session; a preliminary fight, as in boxing or cock-fighting.
- 3 Any of various microcrystalline minerals, of light, translucent, or transparent appearance, which are easily cleft. countable, uncountable
- 4 making the motions of attack and defense with the fists and arms; a part of training for a boxer wordnet
- 5 A thick pole or piece of wood.
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 A friend, a mate, a pal. Multicultural-London-English
"KLASHNEKOFF: I take two glass then pass the spliff to my spars."
- 7 Any crystal with readily discernible faces. countable, uncountable
- 8 a stout rounded pole of wood or metal used to support rigging wordnet
- 9 A bar of wood used to fasten a door. obsolete
"The Prince staid not his aunswere to devize, / But, opening streight the Sparre, forth to him came […]."
- 10 any of various nonmetallic minerals (calcite or feldspar) that are light in color and transparent or translucent and cleavable wordnet
- 11 Any linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff.
- 12 A beam-like structural member that supports ribs in an aircraft wing or other airfoil.
Verb
- 1 To bolt, bar. dialectal, obsolete
"The church dores were sparred, Fast boltyd and barryd, Yet wyth a prety gyn I fortuned to come in, […]"
- 2 To fight, especially as practice for martial arts or hand-to-hand combat.
"After early sparring, Spurs started to take control as the interval approached and twice came close to taking the lead. Terry blocked Rafael van der Vaart's header on the line and the same player saw his cross strike the post after Adebayor was unable to apply a touch."
- 3 fight verbally wordnet
- 4 To supply or equip (a vessel) with spars. transitive
- 5 To strike with the feet or spurs, as cocks do.
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 box lightly wordnet
- 7 To contest in words; to wrangle.
- 8 fight with spurs wordnet
- 9 furnish with spars wordnet
Phrase
- 1 Initialism of signal passed at red. UK, abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Example
"During my days of combat training in the mountains, I had to spar daily with my peers."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "spar"?
Common synonyms include: abstemious, alabaster, altercate, argue, argue, argufy.
How do you use "spar" in a sentence?
During my days of combat training in the mountains, I had to spar daily with my peers.
How do you pronounce "spar"?
Pronounced /spɑɹ/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English sparre (“spar, rafter, beam”) (noun), sparren (“to close, bar”) (verb), from Middle Dutch sparre or Middle Low German Sparre, all ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sparrô (“stake, beam”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)par- (“beam, log”). Compare Dutch spar (“balk”), German Sparren (“rafter, spar”), Danish sparre (“spar”), Albanian shparr, shpardh (“kind of oak”). Perhaps also compare spear.
Etymology 2
From Middle English sparren (“to dart out; to strike out”), from Old English sperran, spirran, spyrran (“to strike, strike out at, spar”), related to Low German sparre (“a struggling, striving”), German sich sperren (“to struggle, resist, oppose”), Icelandic sperrast (“to kick out at, thrust, struggle”). The slang sense of friend is probably from the phrase sparring partner under the influence of the similar slang words par and star.
Etymology 3
From Middle Low German spar, sper (“spar”); or from a backformation of sparstone (“spar”), from Middle English sparston (“gypsum, chalk”), from Old English spærstān (“gypsum”). Related to German Sparkalk (“plaster”), Old English spæren (“of plaster, of mortar”).