Home › Economic Theory & Analysis › Fiscal Policy & Taxation › expenditure

expenditure

ik-SPEN-di-cher /ɪkˈspen.dɪ.tʃər/

nounC1GREGMATIELTSUPSC

formalacademic

The act of spending money, or the total amount of money spent by a government, business, or individual.

Refers to formal or official spending, usually recorded systematically in budgets or accounting statements.

The story behind the word. In ancient times, money was weighed on scales rather than counted as pre-mints. Latin 'expendere' combines 'ex-' (out) and 'pendere' (to weigh). When you spent money, you literally 'weighed it out' on a balance balance scale.

Word relationships

outlay: 'Outlay' often implies an initial or direct expenditure for a specific capital project.
spending: 'Spending' is the informal, general term; 'expenditure' is formal and precise for financial statements.

revenue: 'Revenue' is money collected or received, whereas 'expenditure' is money spent.

Commonly confused with

expense: An expense is an ongoing operational cost; expenditure often implies substantial capital or budget allocation.

Word family

expend (verb): To pay out or spend resources.
expendable (adjective): Designed to be used up or sacrificed.

Collocations

public expenditure
capital expenditure
expenditure cuts
defense expenditure
annual expenditure

Example sentences

"Public expenditure on health and education increased significantly during the recent economic expansion." Public Policy
"Military expenditure comprised over twenty percent of the overall national budget." Economics Text

Memory hook

Expenditure = Ex-Pender = Weighing out pennies from your budget. Expenditure = Outgoing spent funds.

When not to use

Avoid using 'expenditure' for informal personal shopping trips; use 'spending' or 'expenses' instead.

Fun facts

The word 'expensive' shares the same Latin root 'pendere' — things that are expensive require weighing out a lot of gold or silver!