spade
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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A year later, President Lyndon B. Johnson broke ground for what was to become “a living memorial to John F. Kennedy” with the gold-plated spade that President Taft had used for the Lincoln Memorial.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2026
The Trump Administration can rely on intellectual spade work from Sen. Roger Wicker, and many of the ideas we’ve discussed here are in the next defense authorization bill.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 16, 2025
"It could, arguably, be a spade - but I think it more strongly resembles a spear, the symbol that appears in Shakespeare's coat of arms."
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2025
The investment firm thinks Tesla will manage through its Musk-related branding problems and its stock will rebound, but it calls a spade a spade.
From Slate ● Mar. 4, 2025
He moved the packed sand away with the spade, digging down the sides to reveal a small box about two handspans in size.
From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook
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Morris and his assistants have invested time in teaching players to play dominoes and spades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
The most electable progressives are instead happy warriors, a quality Ocasio-Cortez and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani have in spades.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2026
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon celebrated the signing in April of the free trade deal with the world's most populous nation, touting an export boom that would deliver jobs and investment in spades.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
On the sidewalk, generations play spades in the shade and the joyful screams of children emanate from a custom bouncy house adorned with an Egyptian pharaoh bust.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2026
It had long yellow teeth; its hoofs were flat and sharp as spades, and its ribs and hip-bones jutted out under its skin.
From "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck
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They spaded dirt over the plot, said a prayer and drove away.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 18, 2021
As the years went by, she never plowed, spaded or even made a compost pile.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 7, 2017
I struggled to avoid being spaded by the spinning Dunlops and to unhook my boot.
From Time Magazine Archive
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In four years he has spaded up material that many a folklorist would give his magnetized recorder heads to own.
From Time Magazine Archive
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With my drawn blade I spaded up the votive pit, and poured libations round it to the unnumbered dead: sweet milk and honey, then sweet wine, and last clear water; and I scattered barley down.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
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President John Quincy Adams broke ground on the 185-mile Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in 1828, spading the first shovel of dirt just across the District line.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 23, 2017
Part of the special delight of “Ghostland” is its many informed asides, revealing Dickey’s long hours of spading up obscure facts and quotes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2016
In Topeka, Kans., after spading a hole in his backyard for use as a tornado hideaway, Grist Haydon was visited by a deputy tax assessor, who placed a value of $150 on the diggings.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Forked up large clods in the back garden with a spading fork.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Lee leaned on his spading fork and regarded him quietly.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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Vocabulary lists containing spade
My Brother Sam is Dead
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"Digging" by Seamus Heaney
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"Digging" by Seamus Heaney
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