Meanings
spree1
plural sprees
- 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 27Twitter 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 - 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 2051 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 262Synonyms: carousal
present singular third person sprees · participle present spreeing · participle past spreed · past spreed
- 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 1921Synonyms: carouse
Spree2
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA merry frolic; especially, a drinking frolic.
verbTo engage in a spree.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna brief indulgence of your impulses
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
spree · noun, verb
- Latinpraeda“plunder, booty”
- Middle Irishpreit
- Scotsspreath“cattle raid”
- Old Norsesprakr
- Irishspré
- Frenchesprit“lively wit”
- 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”)”.
More words from French, Irish, Old Norse
Full word history & related roots →Spree · proper noun
- GermanSpree
- GermanSpree
- EnglishSpree
Borrowed from German Spree.
More words from German
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
Anagrams
Cite this entry
spree. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spree
“spree.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spree. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “spree,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spree.
Source: spree on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.