expenditure

noun

ex·​pen·​di·​ture ik-ˈspen-di-chər 

-də-ˌchu̇r, 

-də-ˌt(y)u̇r

1

: the act or process of expending

an expenditure of energy

2

: something expended : disbursement, expense

Your income should exceed your expenditures.

Synonyms of expenditure

• expense
• cost

Examples of expenditure in a Sentence

an increase in military expenditures

an increase in military expenditure

vast expenditures of time and effort

The energy expenditure was significant.

the expenditure of funds for the new school

The project will require an expenditure of effort on everyone's part.

Recent Examples on the Web

Broad enterprise cloud adoption took nearly two decades to reach critical mass, as organisations embraced new disciplines like DevOps and FinOps, shifted infrastructure spending from capital to operating expenditure, and gradually moved mission-critical workloads to the cloud. —CBS News, 22 Jan. 2026

Later Thursday, the headline and core personal consumption expenditures price index figures for November were in line with expectations. —Sean Conlon,sawdah Bhaimiya, CNBC, 22 Jan. 2026

Meta led all tech companies in lobbying expenditures in 2025 with a new peak of more than $26 million to hold its place among the biggest spenders in Washington. —Bloomberg, Mercury News, 22 Jan. 2026

No recent administration has proposed financing even the interest payments component of the deficit via reductions in expenditures. —Shawn Tully, Fortune, 21 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

probably from Medieval Latin expenditus, variant past participle of Latin expendere "to weigh, pay out, expend" + -ure

First Known Use

1769, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

expenditure

noun

ex·​pen·​di·​ture ik-ˈspen-di-chər 

-də-ˌchu̇(ə)r

1

: the act of spending (as money, time, or energy)

2

: something that is spent

Legal Definition

expenditure

noun

ex·​pen·​di·​ture ik-ˈspen-di-chər, -ˌchu̇r 

1

: the act or process of paying out

2

: something paid out see also capital expenditure