underspend
verb (past and past participle underspent) /ʌndəˈspɛnd 
/ [no object]
/ [no object]1Spend too little: to underspend on the event would be unthinkable...
- At the same time, poor planning and delivery mean that the province is expected to underspend on child-support grants, food parcels and the building of houses.
- In previous years we have underspent and have urged people to go out and spend the money.
- Some departments, including radiology, finance and surgery, underspent, which offset some of the higher costing areas.
1.1 [with object] Spend less than (a specified or allocated amount): schools have underspent their training budgets...
- They underspent their budget by €15 million in 2002/2003.
- She attacked the State's childcare record, claiming it underspent its childcare budget by €19m in 2001.
- The report reveals that in several winters before 2001, the budget was underspent because of a series of mild winters.
noun /ˈʌndəspɛnd / [in singular]
/ [in singular]An act of underspending: areas in the year’s budget where there has been an underspend...
- The board was told that its prescribing budget is likely to end this financial year with an underspend of £150,000.
- Prescribing costs ranged from an underspend of 7% to an overspend of 14%.
- One positive development is an underspend of £2.5 million in the trust's capital spending, meaning the unspent cash can help ease the deficit.
