expend

Compared meaning: to pay out money or use up effort (verb).

比较义项：花费（金钱、精力等）（动词）。

• spend

  The everyday, neutral word for paying out money (or using time); works in casual speech and writing, and collocates freely with amounts and purposes.

  日常、中性的说法，用来表示花钱（或花费时间）；口语和书面语都常用，能自由搭配具体金额和用途。

  We spend around three hundred dollars a month on groceries.

  我们每个月大约花三百美元买食品杂货。

• expend 本词

  A more formal, often written word, common in financial reports or effort/energy contexts; sounds stiff or overly formal for ordinary everyday spending.

  更正式、多用于书面语的词，常见于财务报告或体力、精力等语境；用在日常花钱的场合会显得生硬、过于正式。

  The department had already expended its entire annual budget by June.

  该部门到六月就已经花光了全年的预算。

Spend and expend both mean paying out money or effort, but differ in style. Spend is everyday and neutral, used for money or time. Expend is more formal, common in financial reports. Spend meaning to pass time, like 'spend a weekend', is not compared here.

这两个词在“花费”这个意义上很接近，但语体和搭配不同：spend 是日常口语中最常用的说法，可用于金钱、时间等；expend 更正式、书面化，常见于财务报告或体力、精力等语境，日常口语中较少用来说花钱。这里不比较 spend 表示“度过（时间）”的用法（如 spend a weekend）。

Compared meaning: to use up energy, time, or resources completely (verb).

比较义项：耗尽、用光（精力、时间、资源等）（动词）。

• exhaust

  Exhaust stresses using something up completely, to the very last bit, and often extends to tiring a person out entirely; it pairs naturally with energy, patience or supplies.

  exhaust强调将某物完全用尽，一点不剩，也常引申为使人彻底筋疲力尽；常与精力、耐心、储备等词搭配。

  The long negotiation completely exhausted the mediator's patience by the final hour.

  冗长的谈判到最后一个小时，已经让调解员的耐心彻底耗尽。

• expend 本词

  Expend is a formal word for spending a resource deliberately for a purpose, most often time, money or effort, with no sense of the resource running out.

  expend是较为正式的词，指为某个目的而有意地花费一种资源，最常与时间、金钱或精力搭配，不含‘资源耗尽’的意味。

  The team expended considerable effort designing a website that no one visited.

  团队花费了大量精力设计了一个几乎无人访问的网站。

• deplete

  Deplete focuses on a measurable stock or supply being gradually reduced over time until little remains, common in financial or health contexts.

  deplete强调某种可测量的储备或供给随时间逐渐减少，直至所剩无几，常用于财务或健康语境。

  The department's budget was steadily depleted by unexpected repair costs throughout the year.

  由于全年意外的维修费用，部门的预算被逐渐耗尽。

Exhaust, expend, and deplete mean using up a resource, but differ. Exhaust stresses using something up completely. Expend is formal, meaning spending time, money, or effort on purpose. Deplete stresses a supply slowly shrinking over time. Exhaust meaning waste gas is not compared here.

这三个词都表示把某种资源用光，但语气和搭配不同：exhaust强调彻底用尽、一点不剩，也常引申为使人筋疲力尽；expend是较正式的词，强调有目的地花费时间、金钱或精力，不含“用光”的意味；deplete强调储备或供给逐渐减少直至所剩无几，常用于财务或健康语境。这里不比较exhaust作名词表示“废气”的意思。