ex ‧ pen ‧ sive S1 W2 /ɪkˈspensɪv/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ expenditure , ↑ expense , expenses; verb : ↑ expend ; adverb : ↑ expensively ≠ ↑ inexpensively ; adjective : ↑ expensive ≠ ↑ inexpensive ]
costing a lot of money OPP cheap :
the most expensive restaurant in town
Petrol is becoming more and more expensive.
Photography is an expensive hobby.
expensive to buy/run/produce/maintain etc
The house was too big and expensive to run.
For low-income families, children’s safety equipment can be prohibitively expensive (=so expensive that most people cannot afford it) .
Employing the wrong builder can be a horribly expensive mistake.
Her husband had expensive tastes (=liked expensive things) .
—expensively adverb :
She’s always expensively dressed.
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COLLOCATIONS
■ adverbs
▪ quite/fairly expensive
The food’s quite expensive, but it’s really nice.
▪ rather/pretty expensive (=more expensive than you expect)
I think £1000 for a bed is rather expensive.
▪ very/extremely expensive
We ate at a very expensive restaurant.
▪ astronomically/phenomenally expensive (=used to emphasize how expensive something is)
Some new medical treatments are phenomenally expensive.
▪ hugely expensive (=extremely expensive, especially when you think something is too expensive)
The building is hugely expensive to maintain.
▪ ridiculously/outrageously/horrendously expensive (=extremely expensive, in a way that seems shocking)
Room service in the hotel was ridiculously expensive.
▪ extortionately expensive (=extremely expensive, in a way that is not fair or reasonable)
Houses in some parts of London are extortionately expensive.
▪ prohibitively expensive formal (=too expensive, with the result that most people cannot afford to buy something)
HIV medicines are still prohibitively expensive for sufferers in Africa.
■ verbs
▪ look expensive
All of her clothes look very expensive.
▪ prove expensive
Their decision could prove expensive.
■ nouns
▪ expensive tastes (=a desire to have things that are very expensive)
His wife has very expensive tastes and his kids always want the latest things.
▪ an expensive mistake (=a mistake which results in someone having to spend a lot of money)
Choosing the wrong builder turned out to be an expensive mistake.
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THESAURUS
▪ expensive costing a lot of money:
an expensive car
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Apartments in the city are very expensive.
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An underground train system is expensive to build.
▪ high costing a lot of money.You use high about rents/fees/prices/costs. Don’t use expensive with these words:
Rents are very high in this area.
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Lawyers charge high fees.
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the high cost of living in Japan
▪ dear [not before noun] British English spoken expensive compared to the usual price:
£3.50 seems rather dear for a cup of coffee.
▪ pricey /ˈpraɪsi/ informal expensive:
The clothes are beautiful but pricey.
▪ costly expensive in a way that wastes money:
Upgrading the system would be very costly.
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They were anxious to avoid a costly legal battle.
▪ cost a fortune informal to be very expensive:
The necklace must have cost a fortune!
▪ exorbitant /ɪɡˈzɔːbət ə nt, ɪɡˈzɔːbɪt ə nt $ -ɔːr-/ much too expensive:
Some accountants charge exorbitant fees.
▪ astronomical astronomical prices, costs, and fees are extremely high:
the astronomical cost of developing a new spacecraft
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the astronomical prices which some people had paid for their seats
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The cost of living is astronomical.
▪ overpriced too expensive and not worth the price:
The DVDs were vastly overpriced.
▪ somebody can’t afford something someone does not have enough money to buy or do something:
Most people can’t afford to send their children to private schools.