spruce
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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How can the Christmas celebration in Colorado go forward without a nice spruce?
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
Already this year, thousands of white spruce trees in the area around Wisley had browned leaves in early August, a sign they won’t cope with a hotter climate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
With its tar-soaked rigging, creaking oak deck and 50 spruce oars, Draken Harald Harfagre is the largest modern replica of a Viking ship.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
Native trees like alder, spruce and rowan are interspersed with hawthorn shrubs.
From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2026
At the bottom of the pass, just as I skimmed out of a grove of spruce trees, I saw something strange on the trail.
From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell
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"Previously, it was spruces or cedars, but today, we find endemic species better adapted to the climate," Merdan Arazmedov, a member of Turkmenistan's Nature Protection Society, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Dec. 18, 2025
There’s no escaping the fact the simulated emergency care being given under shade of spruces could be carried out in grim reality in the coming weeks and months.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2024
At the head of it all, where the grass grows into a forest mixed with pines, spruces, and birch, is a small bar with a "Huuva Hideaway" sign hanging above.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2022
I found that spruces and pines were the easiest to transplant and usually could make the transition from Christmas tree to landscape specimen with few problems.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 11, 2021
A hand swoops in to grab mine, pulling me toward one of the giant spruces, and we get under just as hail starts pelting down.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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Mr. Kabelac, who seemed the sprucer, less bashful of the two, spoke right up: "I'd be glad to marry her if Mrs. Stull says it's all right."
From Time Magazine Archive
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They rode the sprucer for it; they were in better spirits for it.
From The Surrender of Santiago An Account of the Historic Surrender of Santiago to General Shafter, July 17, 1898 by Frank Norris
Oh, if my hands adhere to cash, My gloves at least are clean, And rarely have the gentry flash In sprucer clothes been seen.
From Paul Clifford — Complete by Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton
Looks sprucer and snappier than I'd ever seen him before, too.
From Wilt Thou Torchy by Sewell Ford
You look very much sprucer than you did the last time you were at Bourg.
From The Nabob by W. Blaydes
Thenceforth, while Britain's Glubb Pasha built the British-equipped Arab Legion into Islam's sprucest fighting force, Abdullah ruled the sandy wastes as a Bedouin black-tent state.
From Time Magazine Archive
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But Mr. Hugh Wenlock was on deck in the sprucest of his apparel, and was visibly anxious and fidgety, as befitted a man who shortly expected to enter into the bonds of matrimony.
From A Master of Fortune Being Further Adventures of Captain Kettle by Stanley L. Wood
Would any one wish to see these remains tricked out in the sprucest, or even the richest, modern habiliments?
From The Book-Collector A General Survey of the Pursuit and of those who have engaged in it at Home and Abroad from the Earliest Period to the Present Time by William Carew Hazlitt
Along thy sprucest bookshelves shine The works thou deemest most divine— The 'Art of Cookery,' and mine, My Murray.
From Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 4 With His Letters and Journals by Thomas Moore
They also spruced up the streets, picking litter, weeding, and painting bins.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
Some buildings were spruced up as part of a tourism drive launched in the 1990s, which peaked in the years following the landmark 2016 visit by former US President Barack Obama.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
As a sample they point to Penn’s Grand Concourse, which the MTA has spruced up in recent years with its own resources.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026
One of the most crucial sequences involves the makeover that Glinda tries to give Elphaba as she sings “Popular” in their Shiz University dorm room, which she has spruced up with pink accouterments.
From New York Times ● Nov. 26, 2024
“Got any eggs?” asked Rooster Jim, all spruced up in mostly clean clothes.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
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I like sprucing up my ramen with fresh bok choy, baby corn, spinach and pickled red onions.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
For used cars, dealers sometimes charge “reconditioning” fees even though sprucing up the vehicle is a necessary part of selling it, Baker said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
While Malik welcomes the top court's observations and directions, she says that along with sprucing up laws, there's an urgent need to ensure their proper implementation.
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2026
Minister Chung said North Koreans have been spotted "sprucing up" areas near the JSA for the first time this year -- cleaning, pulling weeds, tidying flower beds and taking photos.
From Barron's ● Oct. 25, 2025
“It could use some sprucing up,” Håkon agreed.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
Vocabulary lists containing spruce
Front Desk
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Novel Study: The Outsiders, Chapters 6–12
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"The Minister's Black Veil," Vocabulary from the short story
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