What does gastar in Spanish mean?

What is the meaning of the word gastar in Spanish? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use gastar in Spanish.

The word gastar in Spanish means spend, use, wear out, run out, fray, spend for spending's sake, waste your breath, waste time on. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word gastar

spend

verbo transitivo (emplear dinero)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Gastan demasiado en ropa; no saben ahorrar.
They spend too much on clothes; they don't know how to save.

use

verbo transitivo (consumir, usar)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Mi coche es de cuatro cilindros y gasta poca gasolina.
My car is a four-cylinder; it uses little gasoline.

wear out

verbo transitivo (desgastar con el uso)

(phrasal verb, transitive, separable: Verb with adverb(s) or preposition(s), having special meaning, divisible--for example, "call off" [=cancel], "call the game off," "call off the game.")
Si arrastras los pies al caminar, gastas la suela de tus zapatos.
If you drag your feet when you walk, you'll wear out your shoe soles.

run out

verbo pronominal (disminuir en cantidad)

(phrasal verb, intransitive: Verb with adverb(s) or preposition(s), having special meaning and not taking direct object--for example, "make up" [=reconcile]: "After they fought, they made up.")
El champú se está gastando: tenemos que comprar otra botella.
The shampoo is running out: we need to buy another bottle.

fray

verbo pronominal (desgastarse con el uso) (clothes, fabric)

(intransitive verb: Verb not taking a direct object--for example, "She jokes." "He has arrived.")
Los puños del abrigo se gastaron con el roce.
The coat sleeves have frayed through close contact.

spend for spending's sake

locución verbal (desperdiciar dinero)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
María siempre gasta por gastar cuando sale con sus amigas.
Maria is always spending for spending's sake when she goes out with her friends.

waste your breath

locución verbal (coloquial (hablar en vano)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
No gastes saliva que nadie te está escuchando.

waste time on

locución verbal (coloquial (usar tiempo en) (pejorative)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Gasté mucho tiempo en este proyecto.
I wasted a lot of time on this project.

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So now that you know more about the meaning of gastar in Spanish, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in Spanish.

Do you know about Spanish

Spanish (español), also known as Castilla, is a language of the Iberian-Romance group of the Romance languages, and the 4th most common language in the world according to Some sources, while others list it as a 2nd or 3rd most common language. It is the mother tongue of about 352 million people, and is spoken by 417 million people when adding its speakers as a language. sub (estimated in 1999). Spanish and Portuguese have very similar grammar and vocabulary; The number of similar vocabulary of these two languages is up to 89%. Spanish is the primary language of 20 countries around the world. It is estimated that the total number of speakers of Spanish is between 470 and 500 million, making it the second most widely spoken language in the world by number of native speakers.