An expenditure is money that you spend or pay out for something. When your family makes an expenditure on groceries, they're spending money to buy food. When a school makes an expenditure on new computers, it's paying money to purchase equipment for students.

The word sounds formal because it's often used in business, government, or household budgeting contexts where people track their spending carefully. A company might review its expenditures to see where all its money went during the year. Your parents might plan their expenditures for the month, listing out costs like rent, utilities, and gas.

Expenditure emphasizes the actual act of spending rather than just the money itself. If someone asks about your expenditures during a vacation, they want to know what you spent money on: hotels, food, admission tickets, and souvenirs. An unexpected expenditure, like a car repair, can disrupt a family's budget because they hadn't planned to spend that money.