/ ɪkˈspensɪv; NAmE / adjective
costing a lot of money :
an expensive car / restaurant / holiday
Art books are expensive to produce.
I can't afford it, it's too expensive.
Making the wrong decision could prove expensive .
That dress was an expensive mistake .
OPP inexpensive
► ex·pen·sive·ly adverb :
expensively dressed / furnished
There are other restaurants where you can eat less expensively.
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SYNONYMS
expensive
costly ♦ overpriced ♦ pricey ♦ dear
These word all describe sth that costs a lot of money.
expensive
costing a lot of money; charging high prices:
I can't afford it—it's just too expensive for me.
•
an expensive restaurant
costly
( rather formal ) costing a lot of money, especially more than you want to pay:
You want to avoid costly legal proceedings if you can.
overpriced
too expensive; costing more than it is worth:
ridiculously overpriced designer clothes
pricey
( informal ) expensive:
Houses in the village are now too pricey for local people to afford.
dear
[not usually before noun] ( BrE ) expensive:
Everything's so dear now, isn't it?
NOTE
This word is starting to become rather old-fashioned.
PATTERNS AND COLLOCATIONS :
to be / look / seem expensive / costly / overpriced / pricey / dear
to sound expensive / costly / pricey
to prove expensive / costly
expensive / costly / overpriced / pricey / dear for sb/sth
a(n) expensive / costly mistake
extremely / incredibly / ridiculously / terribly / very expensive / costly / overpriced / pricey / dear
too expensive / costly / overpriced / pricey / dear
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WORD ORIGIN
early 17th cent. (in the sense lavish, extravagant ): from Latin expens- paid out, from the verb expendere , from ex- out + pendere weigh, pay + -ive .