discretionary spending
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.25 in modern English
31
Scrabble Score
21
Letters
4
Syllables
13
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The amount or portion of a person's or group's expenditures which is used for non-essential or voluntary disbursements; the amount or portion of one's expenditures which one may make as one sees fit.
Uncountable
noun
US government expenditures which are subject to annual review and authorization by Congress, as distinct from expenditures authorized by existing laws.
American usage; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "In this scenario discretionary spending is held to a constant share of GDP."
- "Nervous consumers and business executives put off discretionary spending."
- "If only the Kindle 2 were cheaper! Despite its other shortcomings, Amazon's new and improved digital-book reading device does enough right that it could become the Model T of e-readers, capturing the imagination—and discretionary spending—of the masses."
- "Perot would cut federal discretionary spending by 15 percent, chopping items that range from the space station to the Rural Electrification Administration."
Usage
- Uncountable
- American usage
Inflected Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
Antonyms
nondiscretionary spending