personal expense
5
3.5
- noun
- /ˈpɜrsənl ɪkˈspɛns/
:
gastos personales
- He often struggles to keep track of his personal expenses, like groceries and utility bills.
- money for personal expenses
- pay personal expenses
- card for personal expenses
Yeah, I'm self-employed and I got a part time job just to cover personal expenses, other stuff, I guess, like food.
- Yeah, I'm self-employed and I got a part time job just to cover personal expenses, other stuff, I guess, like food.
- Well, I can assure you guys, why don't you tell me when is the last time you severely and meaningfully ever cut your personal expenses?
- They've had to hire lawyers at draining personal expense.
Examples
-
Fitzgerald understood that personal expenses like meals, clothes, and rent are not deductible.
Academic text (2009) -
The 4-Day Work Week would result in a reduction in personal expenses.
Blog text (15) -
How do you take money out of your business to pay your personal expenses?
Blog text (23) -
Finally, there are personal expenses to manage should you be living with other people on your team.
Blog text (12) -
Sam: Yeah, and I was cutting all my personal expenses.
Blog text (22) -
We always carry cash with us and spend it at places such as farmers' markets, small purchases, personal expenses, laundry, etc.
Blog text (32) -
Couples undertake fertility treatment very readily, and often at great personal expense.
Academic text (2007) -
Many of the volunteers made great sacrifices to come on this trip and paid a large portion of their personal expenses out of their own pockets.
Academic text (1998) -
We calculated tuition, room/board, books, supplies, travel, and personal expenses in the total cost of attendance.
Blog text (22) -
In a report last week, it proposed doubling the personal expenses allowance for care home residents and increasing the number of people eligible for council-funded care.
Academic text (2009)
Synonyms
524
2.7
An amount of money spent for work or business
114
5.6
Money that a person or organization spends
How Costly
5
3.5
1
3.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'personal' (pertaining to private life) modifies 'expense' (a sum of money spent), yielding a straightforward notion of money spent for private/family purposes. This contrasts with business expenses and follows a common cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Personal expense paints a simple picture: imagine two boxes for receipts, one marked personal and the other 'business'. An expense put in the personal box is money you spent for yourself or your family, so the phrase means money not paid for work or 'business'.