spend the night — stay overnight
collocationB1IELTS 5+neutralcommon
to stay somewhere for the whole night, instead of going home, often at someone else's house or in a different place than usual.
Say it like a native
Textbook We remained at the location for the entire duration of the night.
Native We spent the night there.
Natural; the formal version over-explains a simple idea.
Pattern: spend the night (somewhere/with someone)
In use
- I had to spend the night at my cousin's house because it was too late to go home.daily life
- When I travel for work, I often have to spend the night in different cities, which can be tiring but also interesting.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ We spent the night in my friend.
✓ We spent the night at my friend's.
'At my friend's (place)', not 'in my friend'.
Common collocations
spend the night— at, there, together, over
Don't confuse it
'Spend the night' is about where you sleep, not what you do during the night.