verb
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to spend; disburse
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to consume or use up
Related Words
See spend.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of expend
1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin expendere “to weigh out, lay out, pay”
Explanation
The verb expend means to use. If you expend all your energy raking the leaves, you may be too tired to play hockey afterwards. Better pace yourself — you'll never get all of the leaves on the ground, after all. The verb expend means to spend or pay out. You can expend money, but you can also expend things like good will and time. As a voter, you can vote for or against the city's plan to expend money on a new library building, but the city may be expending voter willingness to support the plan if the building goes over the budget. There is no point in building a library if they can't afford to buy books!
Vocabulary lists containing expend
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
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Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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pend, pens, List 1
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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.
Privately funded science can be controversial, but OceanX notes that its research is all publicly accessible, and it partners with government and institutions often unable to expend their limited resources on marine science.
From Barron's • Jan. 26, 2026
Like anyone who runs cold, I expend a good deal of energy avoiding it.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025
You would expect Talling to be tasked with combating the brilliance of De Goede, with her work at mauls a potential way to expend some of the Canadian's energy.
From BBC • Sep. 25, 2025
“The city has expended millions and millions of dollars so far and is going to continue to expend millions and millions of dollars to remediate this issue,” Feuer said at the time.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 25, 2024
Although the tool was weightless in space, it was still difficult to operate, requiring the cosmonauts to expend a lot of energy with each movement.
From "Women in Space" by Karen Bush Gibson
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.
