Expend

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɪkˈspɛnd/

Definitions

1. To use up or consume resources, money, or energy in doing something
2. To spend or allocate something such as money or time for a purpose
3. To apply or expend effort or assets in order to achieve an objective

Etymology: The verb "expend" is a plain borrowing of Latin "expendere," which literally meant "to weigh out." Roman commerce ran on weighed metal rather than coins, so paying someone meant putting out the right amount of bronze or silver on the scale. That physical act of weighing is the root of the modern sense of spending. The Latin verb was built from "ex-," "out," and "pendere," "to weigh" or "hang," the same root that gives English "pendant" and "pendulum." Something hung on a scale was weighed, so "pendere" came to mean weighing, and "expendere" meant paying out a weighed quantity. Later Latin extended the sense to paying out money generally, and the Latin verb's past participle, "expensus," gave English the adjective "expensive" and the noun "expense." English "expend" is a doublet of "spend," which came into English through Old English "spendan" from Latin "expendere" by a different, older route. The two words share a single origin, but "expend" entered English later as a direct borrowing from Latin, so it kept a more formal, bookish flavour while "spend" became the everyday word.

Synonyms: spend, use, consume

Antonyms: save, conserve, preserve