noun
-
something expended, such as time or money
-
the act of expending
Other Word Forms
- overexpenditure noun
- preexpenditure noun
- superexpenditure noun
Etymology
Origin of expenditure
1760–70; < Medieval Latin expendit ( us ) laid out, paid (variant of expēnsus, past participle of expendere; expend ) + -ure
Explanation
In a trip budget, you need to add up all your expenditures, such as hotel, car rental and food costs against the money you have brought to spend. An expenditure is money spent on something. Expenditure is often used when people are talking about budgets. It is the government's job to decide what to do with tax money collected, or in other words, to determine the expenditure of public funds. The word is more than a long way of saying expense. In business, an expenditure implies an investment, something that will bring value over time.
Vocabulary lists containing expenditure
100 SAT Words Beginning with "E"
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Theodore Roosevelt on "New Nationalism" (1910)
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Economics
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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.
The team tracked changes in body weight, energy expenditure, blood metabolites, and liver gene expression.
From Science Daily • Apr. 14, 2026
Tech earnings, dominated by chip makers and hyperscalers, probably are safe for the remainder of the year since a lot of AI capital expenditure is locked in.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026
Cloobeck endorsed the congressman and put about $1 million into an independent expenditure committee backing him.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026
The Fed’s favored inflation measure, the personal consumption expenditure price index, will be released on Thursday, but that covers February, and so won’t capture most of the oil price rise.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 8, 2026
Lots of small seizures can be nearly as profitable, and require the expenditure of fewer investigative resources, than a few large busts.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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.
