verb
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to spend; disburse
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to consume or use up
Synonym Usage
See spend.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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expendernoun
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overexpendverb
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preexpendverb (used with object)
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unexpendedadjective
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well-expendedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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expendsimple
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expendssimple
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have expendedperfect
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has expendedperfect
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am expendingprogressive
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are expendingprogressive
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is expendingprogressive
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have been expendingperfect progressive
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has been expendingperfect progressive
Past
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expendedsimple
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had expendedperfect
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was expendingprogressive
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were expendingprogressive
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had been expendingperfect progressive
Future
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.
See Examples For:
The next prime minister, while aware of his government's legal duties, may not want to expend as much political capital on the issue as his predecessor did.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
Transformers, the technology underlying the LLM, process text by converting every word into a number or token, and expend immense time and power figuring out which words are related.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
Ktown for All was harmed by having to expend resources replenishing the seized items, it alleged.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 2026
And — perhaps most importantly — how much energy do you actually have to expend?
From Salon ● Jan. 29, 2026
“The last thing I want to do is expend my energy trying to convince my own coworkers.”
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
This spiritual sequel to “Frankenstein” is a romantic tale of obsession, possession and fantasy — adjectives that also apply to its filmmaker, Maggie Gyllenhaal, who expends massive quantities of energy jolting it to life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2026
A worm expends a vast amount of energy to jump and faces risks of predation or drying out while suspended in the air.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2025
Attacking Rook’s Rest, he expends lives in a wager that one of Rhaenyra’s dragons will show up, knowing Aemond is hiding with Vhaegar in a nearby forest.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2024
These refer to one-sided relationships where one party expends an overt amount of time, emotional energy and money on another whom they are fascinated with, but who may not know they exist.
From BBC ● Mar. 23, 2024
For the prosecution of this work the Society expends about $700,000 a year, which amount it expects to receive from the devotions of the faithful.
From The American Church Dictionary and Cyclopedia by Miller, William James
In truth, despite the considerable effort expended by law enforcement, the investigation went cold nearly as soon as it began.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
The Pentagon currently estimates the fiscal cost of the war so far at around $29 billion, mostly reflecting expended munitions.
From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026
Of seven key U.S. munitions used in the Iran conflict, four may have expended more than half of their prewar inventories, according to the report.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
Still, perhaps all this energy expended on creating a fictional narrative of global solidarity has not been wasted.
From Salon ● Feb. 1, 2026
At a girls’ school a certain amount of emotional energy, normally expended on boys, gets redirected into friendships.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
A behind-the-scenes teaser trailer boasts of expending 25 tons of propane to create a realistic approximation of dragon fire and setting a new world record for setting stunt performers on fire in a single take.
From Salon ● Jun. 24, 2026
Investors are largely wasting their time when expending significant time and resources to find stocks they think will outperform the market — unless they hold these stocks for many years.
From MarketWatch ● May 30, 2026
And the effort worth expending on collecting evidence depends on the importance of the decision—something Sutherland rates on a scale of 1 to 7.
From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2026
This boost to revenue and tourism, the government argues, justifies the resources it is expending.
From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2026
I am very aware that I should not be driving, and yet I seem to be doing this without expending any thought or energy.
From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King
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.
