costly
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- expensive, dear, exorbitant, extortionate, highly-priced, steep (informal), stiff
- damaging, catastrophic, deleterious, disastrous, harmful, loss-making, ruinous

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Antonyms: cheap
Contrasted words: inexpensive, low, low-priced, reasonable
Related Words: excessive, exorbitant, extravagant, inordinate, steep, stiff, fancy, premium, top

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English Thesaurus: expensive, high, dear, pricey, costly, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

cost‧ly /ˈkɒstli $ ˈkɒːstli/ adjective

1. very expensive, especially wasting a lot of money:
a complex and costly procedure
Such a database would be extremely costly to set up.

2. something that is costly causes a lot of problems or trouble:
His delay in making a decision could prove costly in the long run.
—costliness noun [uncountable]

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

costly
adj.
VERBS be, prove
ADV. enormously, exceptionally, excessively, extremely, very | increasingly | fairly, pretty, quite, rather | potentially | relatively
PREP. for The six-month delay will be costly for the company.
in This process is costly in computer time.
in terms of These teaching methods are too costly in terms of staff resources.
to These measures could be costly to employers.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

expensive costing a lot of money:
an expensive car
Apartments in the city are very expensive.
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.
Lawyers charge high fees.
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.
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 /ɪɡˈzɔːbətənt, ɪɡˈzɔːbɪtənt $ -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
the astronomical prices which some people had paid for their seats
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.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲