Definition, synonyms and related words
plural of expense
"The company's quarterly expenses include travel costs, office supplies, and client entertainment fees."
In plain English: Expenses are the money you spend on things like food, clothes, and entertainment.
"You need to pay for all your travel expenses before you can book the flight."
Usage: Use expenses to refer to the total costs incurred for goods or services, such as business travel or household bills. It functions as a collective plural noun representing money spent rather than a single item.
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of expense
"The company does not allow anyone to expense their personal vacation costs on the business ledger."
In plain English: To expense something means to record it as a cost that a business can pay for or deduct from its taxes.
"The company will not pay for your personal expenses if you travel without permission."
Usage: The verb "expense" means to charge something to an account or include it in a bill, though this usage is now rare and largely replaced by the noun form. In modern English, you should almost always use "expenses" as a plural noun rather than attempting to conjugate it as a verb.
Derived from Old French espesne, this term originally meant "spending" or "cost." It entered English in the late 14th century to describe money spent on something, evolving into its current plural form referring to financial outlays.