spree

S1P3R1E1E1
/spɹiː//ʃpɹeɪ//spɹeɪ/

noun

Uninhibited activity.

“spending spree”

Less commonScrabble 7

Meanings

spree1

nounspree (plural sprees)

plural sprees

  1. in compoundsUninhibited activity.

    spending spree

    2 more examples

    Then all three major builders were called upon to deliver 105 Berkshires before the buying spree was over.

    1959, David P. Morgan, editor, Steam’s Finest Hour, Kalmbach Publishing Co., page 27

    Twitter has been on a hiring spree, spending $630 million on stock-based compensation in 2021, a 33 percent increase from the previous year.

    2022 April 25, Kate Conger, “Twitter Employees Search for Answers as Musk Deal Takes Shape”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
  2. datedA merry frolic; especially, a drinking frolic.

    Tradition says she spent the last two years of her life in the strange den I have been speaking of, after having indulged herself in one final, triumphant and satisfying spree.

    1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym] (Samuel L[anghorne] Clemens), chapter XXI, in A Tramp Abroad; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 205
    1 more example

    It would be a long time before he could be like the majority of these men of the road, who roamed until the hunger for drink and for women mastered them, and then went to work with a purpose in mind, and stopped when they had the price of a spree.

    1905 April–October, Upton Sinclair, chapter XXII, in The Jungle, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 26 February 1906, →OCLC, page 262

    Synonyms: carousal

verbspree (third-person singular simple present sprees, present participle spreeing, simple past and past participle spreed)

present singular third person sprees · participle present spreeing · participle past spreed · past spreed

  1. intransitiverareTo engage in a spree.

    And I never spreed with the fellows as a student any more than I had enjoyed myself with the lads in the playground.

    1892, Leonard Merrick, chapter V, in The Man Who Was Good, published 1921

    Synonyms: carouse

Spree2

proper noun
  1. A river in Germany that flows through Lusatia and into Berlin, where it flows into the Havel.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA merry frolic; especially, a drinking frolic.

Similar

verbTo engage in a spree.

Similar

More synonyms by meaning

nouna brief indulgence of your impulses

Similar

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

spree · noun, verb

  1. Latinpraeda“plunder, booty”
  2. Middle Irishpreit
  3. Scotsspreath“cattle raid”
  4. Old Norsesprakr
  5. Irishspré
  6. Frenchesprit“lively wit”
  7. Englishspree

Unknown. According to Douglas Harper’s Online Etymological Dictionary, “a word of uncertain origin. Perhaps [Barnhart] an alteration of French esprit (“lively wit”) (see esprit). According to Klein, Irish spré seems to be a loan-word from Old Norse sprakr. Watkins proposes a possible origin as an alteration of Scots spreath (“cattle raid”), from Gaelic sprédh, spré (“cattle; wealth”), from Middle Irish preit, preid (“booty”), ultimately from Latin praeda (“plunder, booty”)”.

Full word history & related roots →

Spree · proper noun

  1. GermanSpree
  2. GermanSpree
  3. EnglishSpree

Borrowed from German Spree.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian гуляй, Шпре́е
  • гуляй (guljaj)a merry frolic
  • Шпре́е (Šprée)river in Germany
Czech Spréva
  • Sprévariver in Germany
Dutch boemel, drinkgelag
  • boemela merry frolic
  • drinkgelaga merry frolic
Estonian hoog, pidu
  • hooguninhibited activity
  • pidua merry frolic
  • joominga merry frolic
Finnish juominki
  • juominkia merry frolic
French frénésie, Spree
  • frénésieuninhibited activity
  • Spreeriver in Germany
German Spaß, Vergnügen
  • Spaßuninhibited activity
  • Vergnügenuninhibited activity
  • Gelagea merry frolic
  • Trinkgelagea merry frolic
  • Spreeriver in Germany
Hindi श्प्रे
  • श्प्रे (śpre)river in Germany
Hungarian láz, mánia
  • lázuninhibited activity
  • mániauninhibited activity
  • elszabadultuninhibited activity
  • fékevesztettuninhibited activity
  • féktelenuninhibited activity
  • megszállottuninhibited activity
  • muria merry frolic
  • dáridóa merry frolic
Italian orgia, frenesia
  • orgiauninhibited activity
  • frenesiauninhibited activity
  • folliauninhibited activity
  • baldoriaa merry frolic
  • bisbocciaa merry frolic
  • simposioa merry frolic
  • bagordoa merry frolic
  • Spreariver in Germany
Japanese はめをはずす
  • はめをはずす (hameeo hazusu)uninhibited activity
Latin Sprea
  • Spreariver in Germany
Polish Sprewa
  • Sprewariver in Germany
Portuguese farra
  • farraa merry frolic
Romanian frenezie
  • frenezieuninhibited activity
Russian акти́вность, череда́
  • акти́вность (aktívnostʹ)uninhibited activity
  • череда́ (čeredá)uninhibited activity
  • кутёж (kutjóž)a merry frolic
  • Шпре́е (Špréje)river in Germany
  • Шпре (Špre)river in Germany
  • Спре́ва (Spréva)river in Germany
Scottish Gaelic daorach
  • daoracha merry frolic
Slovak Spréva
  • Sprévariver in Germany
Spanish frenesí m du
  • frenesí m duuninhibited activity

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with spree

All rhymes →

Sounds the same

spray (one pronunciation)

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

spree. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spree

MLA

“spree.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spree. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “spree,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spree.

Source: spree on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.