expend

verb ex·pend \ ik-ˈspend \

|Updated on: 10 Aug 2018

Examples: expend in a Sentence

Definition of expend

expended; expending; expends

transitive verb

1 : to pay out : spend

the social services upon which public revenue is expended
—J. A. Hobson

2 : to make use of for a specific purpose : utilize

projects on which they expended great energy

; also : use up

—

expender

noun

See expend defined for English-language learners

See expend defined for kids

Examples of expend in a Sentence

Are we willing to expend the time and resources required to solve the problem?
redecoration will have to wait, since we've just expended our last dollar in buying the house

Recent Examples of expend from the Web

Abe earlier Monday said the government has expended the search and rescue effort, dispatching 73,000 troops and emergency workers.

— Washington Post, "Rescuers search for dozens still missing after Japan floods," 9 July 2018
Wisconsin data show hunters expended more effort in 2017 but killed 30% fewer grouse and 2018 spring drumming counts were down 34%.

— paul a. smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Smith: With West Nile a threat and numbers down, the ruffed grouse season will end early," 27 June 2018
Time and again, James has been pressed into heavy duty, expending inordinate levels of energy just to keep Cleveland afloat.

— ben ladner, SI.com, "Cleveland Cavaliers Offseason Preview: Will LeBron James Stay or Go?," 10 June 2018
There simply aren’t many fan bases who actually expend as much energy and sweat as the players during the course of a game.

— mike bianchi, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Memo to Orlando City supporter groups: You are the best fans this city has ever had," 16 May 2018
The result had been having to expend more energy and the loss of his release point as his pitch counts mounted.

— jeff wilson, star-telegram, "How Hamels’ start on Friday could impact chances of a trade from Rangers," 12 July 2018
Orcas typically eat 30 of these 40-inch-long fish per day, but shrinking numbers have forced the whales to expend more energy hunting smaller prey.

— meilan solly, Smithsonian, "Pacific Northwest Orca Population Hits 30-Year-Low," 10 July 2018
This would also force the British to expend man power and resources in fighting the Spanish.

— craig hlavaty, Houston Chronicle, "See how Texas beef (partially) helped win the American Revolutionary War," 2 July 2018
With robo umps, MadBum could expend all his energy on pitching.

— scott ostler, SFChronicle.com, "Baseball is about gloves, but not the rubber kind," 18 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'expend.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.