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

Oppenheimer and his colleagues pointed to the derating of dominant technology companies, whose lower price-to-earnings ratios have been driven by anxiety over the returns that capital expenditure might yield in the future.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026

Investors have been closely monitoring Copilot growth as a proxy for whether Microsoft can parlay its capital expenditure into revenue-generating products for business customers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

Sumitomo Bakelite, whose core business is encapsulation materials, is positioned for sustained growth amid tailwinds from higher sales and capital expenditure at outsourced semiconductor assembly and test firms, the analysts say.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 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

According to the census returns of 1895, the total mileage was 496 m., representing a capital expenditure of $84,044,581 paper.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 5 "Arculf" to "Armour, Philip" by Various