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.

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New technologies and treatments sustain the impression that patients have never been healthier, but corporations and conglomerates wield immense power at the expense of the people they’re meant to serve. Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker, 12 Dec. 2024 Trophies aren't guaranteed this term, but Lamine's displays have had much to do with Barca currently topping La Liga at the expense of bitter rival Real Madrid and rising up to second place in the UCL league phase after beating Borussia Dortmund in a 3-2 thriller on Wednesday. Tom Sanderson, Forbes, 12 Dec. 2024 The bugs can become so annoying that the caribou focus on avoiding them — fleeing to icy, windy areas, for instance — at the expense of eating. Barbara Moran, NPR, 10 Dec. 2024 The government that Bashar inherited upon his father’s death in 2000 was nominally Baathist, a socialist and pan-Arab ideology, but the heart of the regime has always been—and, more important, perceived as—a communal Alawite project at the expense of the Syrian Sunni majority. Hussein Ibish, The Atlantic, 8 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for at the expense of 

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Cite this Entry

“At the expense of.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/at%20the%20expense%20of. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.

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