Preposition
at the cost of
Having as a negative consequence.
Synonym: at the expense of
If we do not want to be pained by anybody we must not pain anybody; and how can man consider himself humane if he wants to live at the cost of others. Morarji Desai
My choices are rejections, since there is no other way, but what I reject is more numerous, denser, more demanding than before. A little poem, a sigh, at the cost of indescribable losses. Wisława Szymborska
To become a token woman - whether you win the Nobel Prize or merely get tenure at the cost of denying your sisters - is to become something less than a man... since men are loyal at least to their own world-view, their laws of brotherhood and self-interest. Adrienne Rich
I do not think that safety should be bought at the cost of complicating the expression of good solutions to real-life problems. Bjarne Stroustrup
It is better to save your innocence at the cost of your honor, than to save your country at the cost of your life. Chinese Proverb
Time saved at the cost of an accident is no saving. American Proverb