1 an amount of money needed or used to do or buy something; cost:
2 an amount of money that a person or business spends in order to do something:
a big/major expense Waste disposal is a major expense for us.
cut down on/reduce/cut expense We need to cut down on our expenses.
cover/meet expenses He said the business needed to borrow to meet future expenses.
bear/incur an expense In your tax return you can include tax-deductible expenses incurred as a result of employment.
legal/medical/administrative expenses
unnecessary/additional/extra expense Money can be moved into the account without the unnecessary expense of being converted into sterling.
3 the large amount of money that something costs:
Buying a bigger car has proved to be well worth the expense.
He just had his office remodelled at great expense.
Having gone to the expense of hiring an exhibition stand, you need to make the most of the selling opportunity.
4 money that you spend when you are doing your job, that an employer or other organization pays back to you:
pay/cover/reimburse sb's expenses She was invited to speak at the conference, with an offer to cover all her expenses.
travel/relocation/subsistence expenses
Details of how to claim expenses can be found on the website.
Committee members are paid £160 plus expenses to attend the fortnightly meetings.
I need to get my expenses approved.
5 if something is all expenses paid, you do not have to pay for anything yourself:
She's going to a conference in Tokyo, all expenses paid.
an all-expenses-paid trip to New York
6 paid for by someone:
8 to spend a lot of money in order to make something extremely good:
9 to show the full amount of money paid for something as a cost in a company's accounts, rather than showing it as a lower and lower amount over a period of time:
He claimed that the restaurant bill was a legitimate business expense.
Owning a car involves a lot of expense - it's unavoidable.
She rationalized the expense by saying that the costly carpet she had bought would last longer than a cheaper one.
All the time and expense involved in keeping up to date with the changes has been worthwhile.
The old plan paid 100 per cent of all covered medical expenses and had a premium of approximately $5,000 per year per family.
In 1993, a long-term care allowance programme was introduced in order to support people in need of care to compensate for care-related additional expenses.
Another measure examined here is an indicator that the respondent cannot meet essential expenses.
