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Costly vs Expense - What's the difference?

costly | expense |

As an adjective costly

is of high cost; expensive.

As a noun expense is

a spending or consuming often specifically an act of disbursing or spending funds.

As a verb expense is

to charge a cost against an expense account; to bill something to the company for which one works.

costly

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Of high cost; expensive.
  • a costly activity
    a costly error
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=October 15 , author=Michael Da Silva , title=Wigan 1 - 3 Bolton , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Individual mistakes proved costly for Wigan who, particularly after the half-time introduction of Hugo Rodallega, dominated for long periods.}}

    Antonyms

    * costlessly

    Anagrams

    *

    expense

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia expense) (en noun)
  • A spending or consuming. Often specifically an act of disbursing or spending funds.
  • She went to great expense to ensure her children would get the best education.
    Buying the car was a big expense , but will be worth it in the long run.
    We had a training weekend in New York, at the expense of our company.
  • * , Sonnet 44:
  • Husband nature's riches from expense .
  • That which is expended, laid out, or consumed. Sometimes with the notion of loss or damage to those on whom the expense falls.
  • Jones reached the final at the expense of Jones, who couldnĀ“t beat him.
  • (obsolete) Loss.
  • * , Sonnet 30:
  • And moan the expense of many a vanished sight.

    Synonyms

    * (that which is expended) cost, charge, outlay, disbursement, expenditure, payment

    Derived terms

    * expense account

    Verb

  • To charge a cost against an expense account; to bill something to the company for which one works.
  • It should be acceptable to expense a business lunch with a client.

    Derived terms

    * expense magazine, (Military):'' a small magazine containing ammunition for immediate use. - Henry Lee Scot ''Military Dictionary ----