Definition

1. Noun:

   • Money spent or required for something; a cost: "expense" refers to the money that must be paid out to acquire or do something.
   • A financial burden or drain on resources: It can also signify something that causes a significant cost or uses up resources.
   • Something requiring the expenditure of money (often plural): The plural form "expenses" commonly refers to the specific costs incurred, especially for business or work, which are often reimbursed.

2. Verb (rare, formal, or accounting usage):

   • To charge or record as an expense; to write off: This means to categorize a cost as a business expense, often for accounting or tax deduction purposes.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • The main expense of the trip was the flight ticket. (The primary cost for the trip was the airplane ticket.)
  • He submitted his travel expenses to the accounting department for reimbursement. (He gave the costs from his business trip to the accounting department to get his money back.)
  • Running a large car is a significant expense. (Owning and using a large car is a major financial burden.)

• Verb:

  • The company will expense the cost of the new software. (The company will record the cost of the new software as a business expense.)

Advanced Usage

• "at the expense of":

  • Literal meaning: paid for by someone or something.

    • The dinner was at the company's expense. (The company paid for the dinner.)
  • Figurative meaning: causing harm or loss to someone or something; to the detriment of.

    • He pursued his career at the expense of his personal life. (He focused on his career, which harmed his personal life.)

• "to go to the expense of (doing something)": to spend a significant amount of money on something.

  • They went to the expense of hiring a professional photographer. (They spent a lot of money to hire a professional photographer.)

Variants and Related Words

• Expenses (n, plural): The specific costs incurred, especially those related to business operations (e.g., travel expenses, operating expenses).
• Expensive (adj): Costing a lot of money.
• Inexpensive (adj): Not costing a lot of money; cheap.
• Expenditure (n): The action of spending funds; an amount of money spent. (This is a more formal synonym.)

Synonyms

• Cost: The price required to gain or achieve something.
• Outlay: An amount of money spent, especially a large one for a specific purpose.
• Charge: A price asked for goods or services.

Related Phrasal Verbs/Phrases

• To expense something (against/off something) (verb phrase, business/accounting): To charge a cost to a particular account or project; to write off.
  • You can expense the mileage against the client project. (You can charge the cost of the car travel to the client's project account.)

Related Idioms

• "Money is no expense/object": Used to say that cost is not important or a limiting factor.
  • For her wedding, money was no expense. (For her wedding, she was willing to spend any amount of money.)
• "Laugh at someone's expense": To laugh at someone, making them feel embarrassed or foolish.
  • He told a funny story about his mistake, and we all laughed at his expense. (He told a story about his own error, and we laughed, making him the subject of the joke.)

Noun

1. money spent to perform work and usually reimbursed by an employer
   • he kept a careful record of his expenses at the meeting
2. a detriment or sacrifice
   • at the expense of
3. amounts paid for goods and services that may be currently tax deductible (as opposed to capital expenditures)

Verb

1. reduce the estimated value of something
   • For tax purposes you can write off the laser printer