spruced; sprucing
: to make spruce
—often used with up
: to make oneself spruce
spruce up a bit
plural spruces also spruce
1
a
: 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
Synonyms
Examples of spruce in a Sentence
Verb
hurriedly sprucing up the hotel dining room before the breakfast crowd began showing up
Adjective
He looked very spruce in his new suit.
a slim, spruce man in a tailor-made business suit
Recent Examples on the Web
Jamie Allison Sanders, Peoplemag, 21 June 2024
This area deserves new owners and operators to come in, fix it, spruce it up and bring in new tenants.
—Howard Cohen, Miami Herald, 22 Mar. 2024
Roman Dial, Outside Online, 15 Sep. 2022
The interior is built from spruce wood planks and beech dowels, which means that residents can reassemble walls, dividers, counters, storage and furniture as needed to transform the space.
—CNN, 27 May 2021
Christine Chitnis, Condé Nast Traveler, 29 May 2024
Surrounded by spruce fir, the lake is great for swimming, fishing and non-motorized boating, and walking the 2.8-mile Jubilee Lake National Recreation Trail offers a picturesque way to take it all in.
—Catherine Garcia, theweek, 4 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for spruce 
Verb
If your outdoor space is lacking a little something, why not spruce it up with an outdoor rug?
Outdoor area rugs bring visual interest and texture to a room and easily bridge the gap between indoor and outdoor spaces.
—Jamie Allison Sanders, Peoplemag, 21 June 2024
This area deserves new owners and operators to come in, fix it, spruce it up and bring in new tenants.
—Howard Cohen, Miami Herald, 22 Mar. 2024
Adjective
For the last four years, the National Science Foundation has funded a collaborative project among the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), Amherst College, and Alaska Pacific University (APU) to study how spruce forests shift northward.
—Roman Dial, Outside Online, 15 Sep. 2022
The interior is built from spruce wood planks and beech dowels, which means that residents can reassemble walls, dividers, counters, storage and furniture as needed to transform the space.
—CNN, 27 May 2021
Noun
The menu features a who’s who of the area’s best farms, with dishes such as onion toast on housemade sourdough with Idyll Farms goat cheese, trout with spring peas and wild rice, and inventive desserts, such as spruce tip ice cream.
—Christine Chitnis, Condé Nast Traveler, 29 May 2024
Surrounded by spruce fir, the lake is great for swimming, fishing and non-motorized boating, and walking the 2.8-mile Jubilee Lake National Recreation Trail offers a picturesque way to take it all in.
—Catherine Garcia, theweek, 4 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for spruce
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'spruce.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near spruce
Cite this Entry
“Spruce.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spruce. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
spruce
1 of 3 verb
spruced; sprucing
: to make or make oneself spruce
spruce up a room
spruce up a bit before going out to dinner
spruce
2 of 3 adjective
sprucer; sprucest
: neat or stylish in appearance
sprucely
adverb
spruceness
noun
spruce
3 of 3 noun1
: any of a genus of usually pyramid-shaped evergreen trees that are related to the pines and have soft light wood
2
: the wood of a spruce
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