# expense

Pronunciation: say "ik-SPENS" /ɪkˈspɛns/

## Noun

1. The spending or consuming of resources, especially the paying out of money.
   - Simple: The act of spending money, or the money that something costs you.
   - _The expense of running a national campaign quickly drained the party's reserves._
   - _Homeowners often underestimate the expense involved in restoring an old property._
2. The elimination or consumption of something, sometimes carrying the sense of loss or damage to the thing used up.
   - Simple: The using up of something, often damaging or destroying it in the process.
   - _The new factory boosted output at the expense of the surrounding wetlands._
   - _He climbed the corporate ladder at the expense of every friendship he once valued._

## Verb

3. To charge a cost against an expense account, billing it to the company one works for.
   - Simple: To bill a cost to the company you work for instead of paying it yourself.
   - _New hires often forget they can expense their commuting costs._
   - _She expensed the entire conference trip, including meals and flights._

## Noun

4. The suffering or incurring of loss. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The loss or harm that comes from something.

## Origin

This word came into Middle English from Anglo-Norman expense and Old French espense, from Late Latin expēnsa, which goes back to Latin expendō ("to pay out"). It is a doublet of speso.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/expense (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).