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
Adjective
He looked very spruce in his new suit.
a slim, spruce man in a tailor-made business suit
Recent Examples on the Web
Howard Cohen, Miami Herald, 22 Mar. 2024
Have a medium-length cut already but want to spruce it up?
—Mary Shannon Wells, Southern Living, 26 Jan. 2024
Whether your space is large, small, newly renovated, or in desperate need of some sprucing, upgrading your shower curtain is a simple way to elevate and add personality to your bathroom.
—Andrea Wurzburger, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Mar. 2024
Why not just add more fire and dice around the place to spruce it up?
—Sponsored Content, The Mercury News, 21 Feb. 2024
The couple's vision is to spruce it up while retaining its charm, beginning with building a new and larger kitchen.
—The Indianapolis Star, 29 Jan. 2024
The warning spurred the sign’s first real restoration: The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce spruced it up and, crucially, removed the last four letters.
—Reis Thebault, Washington Post, 2 Nov. 2023
Backyard Architectural Interest Homeowners are investing big time in their outdoor space big time this year, sprucing it up for summer and fall entertaining.
—Sophie Flaxman, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Aug. 2023
Dark, Monochrome Exteriors Homeowners are taking a paintbrush to their front and backyards to spruce them up and give them a sleek, contemporary look.
—Sophie Flaxman, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Aug. 2023
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
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, 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, 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, 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, 14 June 2017
At this point, there’s nothing stopping the spruce beetle.
—Bruce Finley, The Denver Post, 25 Jan. 2017
A spruce hen aggressively defended her chicks from competitors.
—Alaska Dispatch News, 30 June 2017
Byandrew Curry, science.org, 1 Apr. 2024
The loss of sea ice offshore there is triggering an atmospheric process that generates more snow onshore, helping spruce seedlings living at the tree line take hold at higher elevations and in farther-north latitudes than previously found.
—Matt Simon, WIRED, 4 Mar. 2024
The researchers could generalize this beyond their study sites in Alaska, showing that boreal trees growing elsewhere around the Arctic—birch, pine, larch, and other kinds of spruce—are moving northward where nearby sea ice is declining.
—Matt Simon, WIRED, 4 Mar. 2024
The drive to Treehouse Point, half an hour east of Seattle, takes you through a forest fit for hobbits, crowded full of fir, spruce, cedar, maple and hemlock.
—Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times, 27 Feb. 2024
The slash piles that covered the old roadbed—fir and spruce saplings that Cahill had plucked like daisies with the Cat’s claw—would provide shade and cover for future grasses, wildflowers and shrubs.
—Ben Goldfarb, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Feb. 2024
Books chronicling Sheldon’s aerial heroics and his years mapping the Alaska Range with cartographer Bradford Washburn line the shelves of the living room; the open kitchen is stocked with snacks including pickled spruce tips and Alaskan-salmon jerky.
—Jen Murphy, Robb Report, 3 Feb. 2024
The drive there took us through picturesque fields where cattle milled around sturdy barns, then up into hills covered in spruce and pine.
—Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 9 Nov. 2023
Aranya Black Pepper Curio Spice Kampot Black Peppercorn Grown in the Kampot region of southern Cambodia, these peppercorns are sourced directly from small farms and taste woodsy and floral, with delicate aromas of jasmine, eucalyptus, and spruce.
—Antara Sinha, Bon Appétit, 7 Jan. 2024
Verb
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
Have a medium-length cut already but want to spruce it up?
—Mary Shannon Wells, Southern Living, 26 Jan. 2024
Whether your space is large, small, newly renovated, or in desperate need of some sprucing, upgrading your shower curtain is a simple way to elevate and add personality to your bathroom.
—Andrea Wurzburger, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Mar. 2024
Why not just add more fire and dice around the place to spruce it up?
—Sponsored Content, The Mercury News, 21 Feb. 2024
The couple's vision is to spruce it up while retaining its charm, beginning with building a new and larger kitchen.
—The Indianapolis Star, 29 Jan. 2024
The warning spurred the sign’s first real restoration: The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce spruced it up and, crucially, removed the last four letters.
—Reis Thebault, Washington Post, 2 Nov. 2023
Backyard Architectural Interest Homeowners are investing big time in their outdoor space big time this year, sprucing it up for summer and fall entertaining.
—Sophie Flaxman, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Aug. 2023
Dark, Monochrome Exteriors Homeowners are taking a paintbrush to their front and backyards to spruce them up and give them a sleek, contemporary look.
—Sophie Flaxman, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Aug. 2023
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
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, 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, 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, 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, 14 June 2017
At this point, there’s nothing stopping the spruce beetle.
—Bruce Finley, The Denver Post, 25 Jan. 2017
A spruce hen aggressively defended her chicks from competitors.
—Alaska Dispatch News, 30 June 2017
Noun
Fast forward to 1995, when workers at an open-face coal mine in northern Germany discovered 2-meter-long spruce spears and other wooden artifacts embedded in the former lakeshore.
—Byandrew Curry, science.org, 1 Apr. 2024
The loss of sea ice offshore there is triggering an atmospheric process that generates more snow onshore, helping spruce seedlings living at the tree line take hold at higher elevations and in farther-north latitudes than previously found.
—Matt Simon, WIRED, 4 Mar. 2024
The researchers could generalize this beyond their study sites in Alaska, showing that boreal trees growing elsewhere around the Arctic—birch, pine, larch, and other kinds of spruce—are moving northward where nearby sea ice is declining.
—Matt Simon, WIRED, 4 Mar. 2024
The drive to Treehouse Point, half an hour east of Seattle, takes you through a forest fit for hobbits, crowded full of fir, spruce, cedar, maple and hemlock.
—Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times, 27 Feb. 2024
The slash piles that covered the old roadbed—fir and spruce saplings that Cahill had plucked like daisies with the Cat’s claw—would provide shade and cover for future grasses, wildflowers and shrubs.
—Ben Goldfarb, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Feb. 2024
Books chronicling Sheldon’s aerial heroics and his years mapping the Alaska Range with cartographer Bradford Washburn line the shelves of the living room; the open kitchen is stocked with snacks including pickled spruce tips and Alaskan-salmon jerky.
—Jen Murphy, Robb Report, 3 Feb. 2024
The drive there took us through picturesque fields where cattle milled around sturdy barns, then up into hills covered in spruce and pine.
—Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 9 Nov. 2023
Aranya Black Pepper Curio Spice Kampot Black Peppercorn Grown in the Kampot region of southern Cambodia, these peppercorns are sourced directly from small farms and taste woodsy and floral, with delicate aromas of jasmine, eucalyptus, and spruce.
—Antara Sinha, Bon Appétit, 7 Jan. 2024
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.
Word History
Etymology
Adjective
perhaps from obsolete English Spruce leather leather imported from Prussia
Noun
obsolete Spruce Prussia, from Middle English, alteration of Pruce, from Anglo-French
First Known Use
Verb
1594, in the meaning defined at transitive sense
Adjective
1598, in the meaning defined above
Noun
15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2
Time Traveler
The first known use of spruce was
in the 15th century
Phrases Containing spruce
Dictionary Entries Near spruce
Cite this Entry
“Spruce.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spruce. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
Copy Citation
Kids 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
More from Merriam-Webster on spruce
Nglish: Translation of spruce for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of spruce for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about spruce
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