Expenditure

/ɪkˈspɛndɪtʃər/

nounmedium📊CommonFinance
1 meaning3 questions

Definitions

1

The act of spending money or the amount of money spent.

/ɪkˈspɛndɪtʃər/

nounneutralmedium
Finance

The action of spending funds; an amount of money spent.

The company's annual expenditure on research and development has risen.

💡 Simply: It's like when you buy something! Expenditure is how much money you used to buy it. Like, your expenditure on snacks at the movies was $20.

👶 For kids: When you spend money on things, that's called expenditure!

More Examples

2

Reducing government expenditure is a key policy goal.

3

Careful tracking of expenditure is essential for budgeting.

How It's Used

Finance

"Government expenditure on healthcare is increasing."

Economics

"Consumer expenditure drives economic growth."

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

From Middle English *expenditure*, from Old French *despendre* ("to spend, expend") and Latin *expendere* (“to weigh out, pay out, spend”).

Used in accounting and financial contexts since the 14th century, and the word has since been used in formal contexts for government or private spending.

Memory tip

Think of 'spending' money and 'expend' it - it's what money does.

Word Origin

LanguageLatin
Original meaning

"to weigh out, pay out, spend"

government expenditurepublic expenditurecapital expenditurehousehold expenditureannual expenditure

Common misspellings

expendatureexpenditure

Usage

20%Spoken
80%Written