out-of-pocket
Americanadjective
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paid out in cash or from one's own financial resources and sometimes reimbursed.
My out-of-pocket travel expenses included taking business clients to dinner.
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without funds or assets.
an out-of-pocket student who stayed with us.
adjective
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(postpositive) having lost money, as in a commercial enterprise
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without money to spend
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(prenominal) (of expenses) unbudgeted and paid for in cash
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Lacking money; also, having suffered a financial loss, as in We can't go; I'm out of pocket right now . William Congreve had it in The Old Bachelor (1693): “But egad, I'm a little out of pocket at present.” [Late 1600s]
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Referring to actual money spent, as in I had to pay the hotel bill out of pocket, but I know I'll be reimbursed . This expression sometimes occurs as a hyphenated adjective mainly in the phrase out-of-pocket expenses , as in My out-of-pocket expenses for business travel amounted to more than a thousand dollars . [Late 1800s]
Etymology
Origin of out-of-pocket
First recorded in 1880–85
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.
For employers, tactics to limit the increases include changing plan designs, negotiating lower costs with vendors and pushing more costs to employees through larger payroll deductions for premiums or higher out-of-pocket charges such as deductibles.
One positive: Since 2025, there has been a cap on out-of-pocket drug spending for Medicare enrollees.
From Barron's
The Washington-based PAN Foundation has provided financial assistance to patients to help defray copays and other out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs.
“The No. 1 reason for delayed dental care,” said Mertz, “is out-of-pocket costs.”
From Los Angeles Times
But look beyond the premium and deductible to the out-of-pocket maximum, which is the most you’d pay for covered services during the year.
From Barron's
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.
