2 VERB If people are expelled from a place, they are made to leave it, often by force. □ [be V -ed + from ] An American academic was expelled from the country yesterday. □ [V n] They were told at first that they should simply expel the refugees.
3 VERB To expel something means to force it out from a container or from your body. □ [be V -ed] As the lungs exhale this waste, gas is expelled into the atmosphere.
ex|pend / I kspe nd/ (expends , expending , expended ) VERB To expend something, especially energy, time, or money, means to use it or spend it. [FORMAL ] □ [V n] Children expend a lot of energy and may need more high-energy food than adults.
ex|pend|able / I kspe ndəb ə l/ ADJ If you regard someone or something as expendable , you think it is acceptable to get rid of them, abandon them, or allow them to be destroyed when they are no longer needed. [FORMAL ] □ Once our services cease to be useful to them, we're expendable. □ During the recession, training budgets were seen as an expendable luxury.
ex|pendi|ture / I kspe nd I tʃə r / (expenditures )
1 N‑VAR Expenditure is the spending of money on something, or the money that is spent on something. [FORMAL ] □ Policies of tax reduction must lead to reduced public expenditure. □ They should cut their expenditure on defence.
2 N‑UNCOUNT Expenditure of something such as time or energy is the using of that thing for a particular purpose. [FORMAL ] □ [+ of ] The financial rewards justified the expenditure of effort.
ex|pense ◆◇◇ / I kspe ns/ (expenses )
1 N‑VAR Expense is the money that something costs you or that you need to spend in order to do something. □ Most of the marble had been imported at vast expense from Italy. □ It was not a fortune but would help to cover household expenses.
2 N‑PLURAL [oft poss N ] Expenses are amounts of money that you spend while doing something in the course of your work, which will be paid back to you afterwards. [BUSINESS ] □ As a politician, her salary and expenses were paid by the taxpayer. □ Can you claim this back on expenses?
3 PHRASE If you do something at someone's expense , they provide the money for it. □ Should architects continue to be trained for five years at public expense?
4 PHRASE If someone laughs or makes a joke at your expense , they do it to make you seem foolish. □ I think he's having fun at our expense.
5 PHRASE If you achieve something at the expense of someone, you do it in a way which might cause them some harm or disadvantage. □ According to this study, women have made notable gains at the expense of men.
6 PHRASE If you say that someone does something at the expense of another thing, you are expressing concern at the fact that they are not doing the second thing, because the first thing uses all their resources. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ The orchestra has more discipline now, but at the expense of spirit.
7 PHRASE If you go to the expense of doing something, you do something which costs a lot of money. If you go to great expense to do something, you spend a lot of money in order to achieve it. □ Why go to the expense of buying an electric saw when you can hire one? COLLOCATIONS expense NOUN
1
noun + expense : household, living, office; funeral
adjective + expense : additional, considerable, vast; legal, medical, parliamentary; day-to-day, monthly
verb + expense : incur; justify; fiddle
2
noun + expense : hotel, travel
verb + expense : claim, deduct; cover, pay, reimburse
ex|pe nse ac|count (expense accounts ) N‑COUNT An expense account is an arrangement between an employer and an employee which allows the employee to spend the company's money on things relating to their job, for example travelling or looking after clients. [BUSINESS ] □ He put Elizabeth's motel bill and airfare on his expense account. □ …expense account lunches.
ex|pen|sive ◆◆◇ / I kspe ns I v/ ADJ If something is expensive , it costs a lot of money. □ Fuel's so expensive in this country. □ I get very nervous because I'm using a lot of expensive equipment. ● ex|pen|sive|ly ADV [ADV -ed, ADV after v] □ She was expensively dressed, with fine furs and jewels. SYNONYMS expensive ADJ
costly: Having professionally-made curtains can be costly.
pricey: Medical insurance is very pricey.
overpriced: I had an overpriced cup of coffee in the hotel cafeteria.
exorbitant: Exorbitant housing prices have created an acute shortage of affordable housing for the poor.
ex|peri|ence ◆◆◆ / I ksp I ə riəns/ (experiences , experiencing , experienced )
1 N‑UNCOUNT Experience is knowledge or skill in a particular job or activity, which you have gained because you have done that job or activity for a long time. □ He has also had managerial experience on every level. □ His mother's had plenty of experience taking care of the twins for him.
2 N‑UNCOUNT Experience is used to refer to the past events, knowledge, and feelings that make up someone's life or character. □ I should not be in any danger here, but experience has taught me caution. □ She had learned from experience to take little rests in between her daily routine.