- costing a lot of money
- an expensive car/restaurant/holiday
- I can't afford it—it's too expensive.
- Making the wrong decision could prove expensive.
- That dress was an expensive mistake.
- expensive to do Art books are expensive to produce.
- expensive for somebody The new regulations are likely to be very expensive for employers.
- expensive for somebody to do Bonds can be expensive for individuals to invest in.
- it is expensive to do something It's expensive to live in London.
- it is expensive for somebody to do something It is now more expensive for Europeans to visit here.
Synonyms expensiveexpensivecostly ▪ overpriced ▪ pricey ▪ dearThese words all describe something that costs a lot of money.expensive costing a lot of money; charging high prices:opposite cheap (1), inexpensive- I can’t afford it—it’s just too expensive for me.
- an expensive restaurant
- You want to avoid costly legal proceedings if you can.
- ridiculously overpriced designer clothes
- Houses in the village are now too pricey for local people to afford.
- Everything’s so dear now, isn’t it?
- expensive/costly/overpriced/pricey for somebody/something
- expensive/costly to do something
- very/too/fairly/quite/pretty expensive/costly/pricey
Extra ExamplesTopics Shoppinga1, Moneya1- Food in this country is getting very expensive.
- Giving every patient an annual anti-flu injection would be prohibitively expensive.
- Her suit looked extremely expensive.
- I found the food very expensive.
- Some of these legal cases are enormously expensive.
- discreetly expensive perfume
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- look
- prove
- …
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
Word Originearly 17th cent. (in the sense ‘lavish, extravagant’): from Latin expens- ‘paid out’, from the verb expendere, from ex- ‘out’ + pendere ‘weigh, pay’ + -ive.Definitions on the go
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expensive