expense

expense
/Ik'spens/ noun (C, U)
1 the amount of money that you have to spend on something: household/medical/living etc expenses (=the money that you spend for a particular purpose): The students share all the household expenses. | go to great expense also go to a lot of expense (=spend a lot of money on something): We went to a lot of expense to provide the safety equipment so please take care of it. | spare no expense (=spend as much money as is necessary to get the best or most expensive things): Julie's parents had spared no expense for her wedding. | at great/little/no expense: We were wined and dined at great expense. | think of the expense (=it's too expensive): I'd love to go to the Caribbean but think of the expense!
2 expenses (plural) money that you spend while you are doing your job on things such as travel and food, and which your employer then pays to you: be on expenses (=if the cost of something is on expenses, the person that you work for pays for it rather than you): Come on, have another drink. It's all on expenses, you know. | all expenses paid (=something, especially a holiday or journey that is all paid for by someone else): The prize is an all expenses paid trip to Rio.
3 at sb's expense
a) if you do something at someone's expense, they pay for you to do it: Bill's just been on a computing course, all at the company's expense.
b) if you make jokes at someone's expense, you laugh about them: Louis kept making jokes at his wife's expense.
4 at the expense of if something is done at the expense of something else, it is only achieved by harming the other thing: High production rates are often achieved at the expense of quality of work.

Longman dictionary of contemporary English. 2004.

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  • expense — ex‧pense [ɪkˈspens] noun 1. [countable, uncountable] ACCOUNTING an amount of money that a business or organization has to spend on something: • Most advertisers look upon advertising as an expense and not an investment, which is a mistake. • The… …   Financial and business terms

  • expense — ex·pense 1 n: financial burden or outlay; specif: an item of business outlay chargeable against revenue for a specific period busi·ness expense: an expense made in furtherance of one s business esp. as part of the cost of operating a business in… …   Law dictionary

  • Expense — Ex*pense , n. [L. expensa (sc. pecunia), or expensum, fr. expensus, p. p. of expendere. See {Expend}.] 1. A spending or consuming; disbursement; expenditure. [1913 Webster] Husband nature s riches from expense. Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. That which… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • expense — [ek spens′, ikspens′] n. [ME < Anglo Fr < LL expensa (pecunia), paid out (money) < L expensum, neut. pp. of expendere: see EXPEND] 1. Obs. the act of expending; a spending or using up 2. financial cost; fee; charge 3. any cost or… …   English World dictionary

  • expense — late 14c., from Anglo Fr. expense, O.Fr. espense money provided for expenses, from L.L. expensa disbursement, outlay, expense, prop. neut. pl. pp. of L. expendere to weigh out money, to pay down (see EXPEND (Cf. expend)). The verb is 1909, from… …   Etymology dictionary

  • expense — ► NOUN 1) the cost incurred in or required for something. 2) (expenses) specific costs incurred in the performance of a job or task. 3) something on which money must be spent. ● at the expense of Cf. ↑at the expense of …   English terms dictionary

  • expense — cost, *price, charge …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • expense — [n] cost, payment amount, assessment, bite*, bottom line*, budget, charge, consumption, debit, debt, decrement, deprivation, disbursement, duty, expenditure, forfeit, forfeiture, insurance, investment, liability, loan, loss, mortgage, obligation …   New thesaurus

  • Expense — Expenses redirects here. For the row about members expenses in the UK Parliament which started about May 2009, see United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal. Accountancy Key concepts Accountant · Accounting period ·… …   Wikipedia

  • expense — noun 1 cost/money spent on sth ADJECTIVE ▪ considerable, enormous, great, huge, significant, vast ▪ added, additional, extra …   Collocations dictionary

  • expense — ex|pense [ ık spens ] noun *** 1. ) count an amount of money you spend in order to buy or do something: Rent is our biggest expense. You can claim part of your telephone bill as a business expense. traveling/medical/legal expenses a factory s… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

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