Spruce

/spɹuːs/ · noun

Meaning

Any of various large coniferous evergreen trees or shrubs from the genus Picea, found in northern temperate and boreal regions; originally and more fully spruce fir..

Definitions by Sense

1. Any of various large coniferous evergreen trees or shrubs from the genus Picea, found in northern temperate and boreal regions; originally and more fully spruce fir.
2. (uncountable) The wood of a spruce.
3. (used attributively) Made of the wood of the spruce.
4. (obsolete) Prussian leather; pruce.
5. (comparable) Smart, trim, and elegant in appearance; fastidious (said of a person).
6. (usually with up) To arrange neatly; tidy up.
7. (ambitransitive, usually with up) To make oneself spruce (neat and elegant in appearance).
8. To tease.

Example Sentences

That spruce table is beautiful!

Hovv often vvould the Svvaines prepare their Morrice & their May / To haue a ſight of her, vvhen all enamoured vvent their vvay? / The ſprevvſeſt Citie-Lads for her vvould faine the Countrie-aire, / And that their prouder Girles had but adultrate beauties ſvvaire, […]

[A] baker's boy in a white apron and blue jumpers went by carrying a basket of bread on his head; and from the nearby tobacconist's, a spruce young lieutenant dressed in a black uniform emerged lighting a cigarette.

He had great neatness of person, and he continued to wear his spruce black coat and his bowler hat, always a little too small for him, in a dapper, jaunty manner.

A spruce young lieutenant came over, saluted and clambered into the back of our jeep, and we were off.

The two clean rooms, where chips are made, are sprucer than a hospital theatre.

Synonyms for spruce

Antonyms for spruce

Related Words

Word Forms

• spruces
• spruce
• sprucer
• sprucest
• sprucing
• spruced

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

Practice and Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions