Meanings
- idiomaticIn large quantities; to a high degree; to excess, without restraint.
Last year we harvested almost no potatoes, but this year we're getting them in spades.
3 more examples
"He is three times that bad in spades," I said. "He ain't washed his socks in four months for one thing," […]
1954, Richard [Pike] Bissell, High Water (Atlantic Monthly Press Book), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, OCLC 760577; republished St. Paul, Minn.: Minnesota Historical Society, 1987, ISBN 978-0-87351-221-3, page 115Character the hotel has in spades. It begins at the parking lot, where bison roam.
1993 June 23, Patricia Leigh Brown, “Yellowstone’s landmark in logs”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 28 Apr 2016This caution hurt JPMorgan's profits at the time but paid off in spades in 2009, as the bank earned $8.5 billion in the first three quarters.
2009 December 8, Justin Fox, “The top 10 everything of 2009: Top 10 best business deals: 2. JPMorgan Chase and the deals it didn't do”, in Time, archived from the original on 23 Apr 2016Synonyms: in droves, abundantly, but good
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseIn large quantities; to a high degree; to excess, without restraint.
More synonyms by meaning
adverbwithout question and beyond doubt
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From the card game of bridge, in which spades is the highest suit. Perhaps influenced by phrases with similar meaning, in spadefuls or in spate.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
in spades. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20spades
“in spades.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20spades. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in spades,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20spades.
Source: in spades on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.