Expends

Expends is the third-person singular present tense of expend. The verb expend means to use up or consume resources such as money, time, effort, or energy. In formal writing, expends is used to describe the act of consuming resources, typically with direct objects such as funds, time, or labor, and frequently with prepositional phrases indicating the resource being used: “expends resources on research,” “expends time on training.” It is transitive and can also appear in passive constructions: “resources are expended.”

Origin: Expend derives from the Latin expendere, from ex- “out” plus pendere “to weigh” or “to pay out,” originally signaling the weighing out of a quantity before payment, and later the act of using or spending resources.

Usage notes: In contrast to spend, expend emphasizes the usage or outlay of resources rather than the act of monetary payment alone. It is common in business, science, and government contexts when reporting budgets, energy use, or effort.

Examples: The company expends a large portion of its budget on research and development. Athletes expend a lot of energy during competition.

See also: expenditure, expenditures, expendable.