out-of-pocket
adjective
paid out in cash or from one's own financial resources and sometimes reimbursed.
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out-of-pocket
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out of pocket
out of pocketadjective(postpositive) having lost money, as in a commercial enterprise
out-of-pocket
American
[aut-uhv-pok-it]
/ ˈaʊt əvˈpɒk ɪt /
adjective
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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.
out of pocket
British
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
out of pocket
Idioms
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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.
See Examples For:
The drop-off is forcing dealers to compete more for routine, out-of-pocket maintenance and repair business.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
“The brands that treat this as a brand-building opportunity, not another awareness push, are the ones that will pull ahead in the out-of-pocket era.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
But that also means that they are on the hook for the out-of-pocket amount.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
But that wouldn’t work very well, because of gaps in that program — it doesn’t cover dental or vision care and has no out-of-pocket cap.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
Your salary barely pays for your washing and your few out-of-pocket expenses.
From A Girl in Ten Thousand by L. T. Meade
It's understood that the payment of that money by the King is to avoid leaving the Crown Estate out of pocket.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
“Or they are in limbo, and they say, ‘I certainly don’t want to pay for it out of pocket if I’m going to have coverage in the future.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
Another couple who were "scarred for life" by a rogue trader who left them £30,000 out of pocket said it would give more confidence to homeowners.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
Most purely cosmetic surgery is paid for out of pocket, as Medicare generally doesn’t cover procedures performed solely for cosmetic purposes.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 5, 2026
Added to the two pennies Maybeth and James had picked up earlier, Dicey figured that they were only twenty-one cents out of pocket for food.
From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt
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.
