Meaning & use
total expenditure
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountableformalbusinessfinance
The total amount of money spent by a person, organization, or government over a particular period.
Grammar: Often used with a possessive or 'of': the total expenditure of the company; total expenditure on health.
Patterns
- total expenditure on something
- total expenditure of something
- increase/reduce total expenditure
The government's total expenditure on education rose by 5% last year.
We need to keep total expenditure within the budget.
Their total expenditure for the project exceeded $2 million.
noununcountableformalbusinessfinance
The overall act or process of spending money, considered as a whole.
Grammar: Used without 'a' or a plural when referring to the general concept: Total expenditure is rising.
Patterns
- total expenditure is rising/falling
- cut total expenditure
- control total expenditure
Total expenditure is rising faster than income.
The committee discussed ways to control total expenditure.
In times of recession, total expenditure often falls.
Common combinations
- total expenditure on
- Total expenditure on healthcare has doubled in ten years.
- government total expenditure
- Government total expenditure includes spending by all departments.
- reduce total expenditure
- The company aims to reduce total expenditure by 10%.
- annual total expenditure
- The annual total expenditure of the charity is about $5 million.
- total expenditure as a percentage of GDP
- Total expenditure as a percentage of GDP remained stable.
Synonyms and how they differ
- total spending
- Less formal and more common in everyday speech; 'total expenditure' is preferred in official reports.
- outlay
- Often refers to a single large payment or investment, not the overall sum over time.
- expenditure
- Without 'total', it can refer to any amount spent, not necessarily the whole sum.
Opposites
Word family
- expend verb
- To spend or use up money, time, or effort (formal).
- expenditure noun
- The act of spending or the amount spent (formal).
- expensive adjective
- Costing a lot of money.
Commonly confused: total expenditure or expense?
total expenditure vs expense
Expense often refers to a single cost or the general idea of costing money; total expenditure is the overall sum spent.
Practice
The company's total expenditure ______ new equipment increased sharply last quarter.
Choose one answer.
The correct preposition is 'on' because we say 'expenditure on something' when referring to what the money is spent for. 'For' is not used in this pattern, and 'in' or 'with' do not fit the meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “total expenditure”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.