expense
/ɪkˈspɛns/ noun, verb
Forms expenses expensing expensed expence
- noun A spending or consuming, often a disbursement of funds. “She went to great expense to ensure her children would get the best education.”
- noun The elimination or consumption of something, sometimes with the notion of loss or damage to the thing eliminated. “Jones reached the final at the expense of Smith, who couldn't beat him.”
- noun (obsolete) Loss.
- verb (transitive) To charge a cost against an expense account; to bill something to the company for which one works. “It should be acceptable to expense a business lunch with a client.”
Synonyms
cost charge outlay disbursement expenditure payment disbursal write off write down
Etymology
From Middle English expense, from Anglo-Norman expense and Old French espense, from Late Latin expēnsa, from Latin expendō. See expend. Doublet of speso.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A spending or consuming; disbursement; expenditure.
- noun That which is expended, laid out, or consumed; cost; outlay; charge; --sometimes with the notion of loss or damage to those on whom the expense falls; as, the expenses of war; an expense of time.
Etymology [L. expensa (sc. pecunia), or expensum, fr. expensus, p. p. of expendere. See Expend.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “expense”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details