Synonyms costs
costs
spending ▪ expenditure ▪ expenses ▪ overheads ▪ outlay
These are all words for money spent by a government, an organization or a person.
costs the total amount of money that needs to be spent by a business:
labour/production costs
rising costs
spending the amount of money that is spent, especially by a government or an organization:
public spending
More spending on health was promised.
expenditure (rather formal) an amount of money spent by a government, an organization or a person:
expenditure on education
expenses money that has to be spent by a person or an organization; money that you spend while you are working that your employer will pay back to you later:
legal expenses
travel expenses
overhead(s) the regular costs of running a business or an organization, such as rent, electricity and wages:
High overheads mean small profit margins.
outlay the money that you have to spend in order to start a new business or project, or in order to save yourself money or time later:
The best equipment is costly but is well worth the outlay.
Patterns
spending/expenditure/outlay on something
high/low costs/spending/expenditure/expenses/overheads
total costs/spending/expenditure/expenses/overheads/outlay
capital costs/spending/expenditure/expenses/outlay
household costs/spending/expenditure/expenses
government/public/education/health costs/spending/expenditure
to increase/reduce costs/spending/expenditure/expenses/overheads/the outlay