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at the expense of

  1. To the detriment or injury of a person or thing, as in We can't speed up production at the expense of quality , or The laughter was all at Tom's expense . [Late 1600s]

  2. Paid for by someone, as in The hotel bill for the sales force is at the expense of the company . [Mid-1600s]



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Idioms and Phrases

Also, at one's expense .

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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at the end of the dayat the hand of