at the expense of

idiom

: in a way that harms (something or someone)

Malls flourished at the expense of small stores downtown.

He argues that the tax cut will benefit the rich at the expense of the poor.

Examples of at the expense of in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The memo said schools have promoted DEI efforts often at the expense of white and Asian American students. —Collin Binkley, Chicago Tribune, 27 Feb. 2025

And within Washington, power has increasingly centralized in the president at the expense of Congress and the judiciary. —Ryan Young, Twin Cities, 27 Feb. 2025

The historian Janis Mimura saw something more ominous: a new, proactive union of industry and governmental power, wherein the state would drive aggressive industrial policy at the expense of liberal norms. —Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2025

The United Automobile Workers Union strikes in 2023 underscored the risks of focusing on the latter at the expense of the former. —Mariana Mazzucato, Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025

Rhymes for at the expense of

• above
• foxglove
• hereof
• thereof
• whereof
• dove
• glove
• love
• shove
• hereinabove