English · Word pair Candidate C1

at the expense of somebody

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Also seen as: at the expense of something

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

harming or disadvantaging someone in order to benefit oneself

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

làm tổn hại hoặc bất lợi cho người khác để lợi dụng cho bản thân

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: at the cost or loss of someone

Examples

She advanced her career at the expense of her relationships.

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Everyday learner phrase (CEFR C1); level cross-referenced from published learner lists. Definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “at the expense of somebody” mean?

harming or disadvantaging someone in order to benefit oneself Literally: at the cost or loss of someone

Is “at the expense of somebody” formal or informal?

at the expense of somebody is generally neutral.