capital expenditure

American  

noun

Accounting, Finance.

1. an addition to the value of fixed assets, as by the purchase of a new building.

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capital expenditure British  

noun

1. expenditure on acquisitions of or improvements to fixed assets

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capital expenditure Cultural  

1. The purchase of an asset by a firm.

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Etymology

Origin of capital expenditure

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

capital expenditure

The Google parent raised its capital expenditure outlook for the year by $15 billion, to between $195 billion and $205 billion, aiming to accelerate its pace of capacity delivery to meet growing demand.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

But CFO Rafael Lizardi told analysts that it may end up spending on the high side of its $2 billion to $3 billion guidance for capital expenditure.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026

Investors are closely following Alphabet’s capital expenditure guidance, as a pullback would indicate cooling AI investment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

Albanese said Australia "cannot settle for a short-term boom in capital expenditure and construction".

From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026

Such a term, though in common use, is not strictly correct, for the capital value vanishes when the ore is extracted, but in conformity with current usage the term "capital expenditure" will be adopted.

From Principles of Mining Valuation, Organization and Administration by Hoover, Herbert