expenditure • \ik-ˈspen-di-chər, -də-ˌchu̇r\• noun 1. the act of spending money for goods or services 2. the act of consuming something 3. money paid out; an amount spent The word expenditure has appeared in 2,770 New York Times articles in the past year, including on Aug. 15 in the Motherlode blog post "What We Spend to Raise a Child - and What We Don't" by KJ Dell'Antonia: Higher income parents spend more on nearly every item with a discretionary component. That adds up to Montessori instead of in-home day care; houses in stronger school districts; and more money spent on activities, travel and other miscellany that the lower-income child either doesn't "need" or just doesn't get. ... How much does that extra expenditure matter? It doesn't have to mean a thing. More than one successful, happy adult was raised under tight financial circumstances. But when you look at the forest, rather than at the trees, financial statistics like these do reflect different outcomes for the children whose experiences they shape: true economic mobility is becoming more a pipe dream than the American Dream, and children are likely to stay within the income category to which they are born. Learn more about the word "expenditure" and see usage examples across a range of subjects on the Vocabulary dictionary.