noun
-
something expended, such as time or money
-
the act of expending
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of expenditure
1760–70; < Medieval Latin expendit ( us ) laid out, paid (variant of expēnsus, past participle of expendere; see 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 Silicon Data LLM Token Expenditure Index, which peaked at around $2.05 at the end of May, has since plummeted more than 10% to $1.80.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 11, 2026
Expenditure: The value of goods and services bought by households and by government, investment in machinery and buildings.
From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026
Expenditure on durables rose 2.0%, while expenditure on services fell 0.1% and non-durables fell 0.2%, the data showed.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 17, 2025
Friday’s release of the Personal Consumption Expenditure Index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred metric for inflation, wasn’t quite low enough.
From Barron's • Dec. 5, 2025
Summary of Expenditure upon Restorations, Memorials, and Special Works executed in Ely Cathedral within the last thirty years. £ s. d.
From Ely Cathedral by Anonymous
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.
