expensive
[adjective]
Synonyms: dear, costly, exorbitant, extravagant, high-priced, lavish, overpriced, steep (informal), stiff

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Antonyms: inexpensive
Contrasted words: economical, moderate, bargain, low-cost, low-priced, thrifty, cheap
Related Words: immoderate, uneconomical, big-ticket, high-priced

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

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

ex‧pen‧sive S1 W2 /ɪkˈspensɪv/ adjective
[Word Family: noun: expenditure, expense, expenses; verb: expend; adverb: expensively ≠ inexpensively; adjective: expensive ≠ inexpensive]
costing a lot of money Antonym : 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.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

expensive
adj.
VERBS be, look, prove, seem, sound Her suit looked extremely expensive.
become, get Holidays in this country are getting very expensive.
make sth Adding these safety features would make the cars too expensive.
find sth I found the food very expensive.
ADV. amazingly, astronomically, enormously, exceedingly, extortionately, extremely, frighteningly, hideously, highly, horrendously, horribly, hugely, immensely, incredibly, inordinately, ludicrously, massively, outrageously, ridiculously, ruinously, terribly, vastly, very Some of these legal cases are enormously expensive.
impossibly, prohibitively Giving every patient an annual anti-flu injection would be prohibitively expensive.
increasingly | a bit, comparatively, fairly, moderately, pretty, quite, rather, relatively | correspondingly Walls are generally the greatest source of heat loss and correspondingly expensive to tackle.
needlessly, unduly, unnecessarily | notoriously | obviously | discreetly discreetly expensive perfume

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

expensive

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.
look expensive
All of her clothes look very expensive.
prove expensive
Their decision could prove expensive.
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.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

expensive
adjective
BAD: Prices in Britain are not as expensive as in Japan.
GOOD: Prices in Britain are not as high as in Japan.
BAD: The disadvantage is that the cost is very expensive.
GOOD: The disadvantage is that the cost is very high.

Usage Note:
See note at CHEAP 1 (cheap)

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

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 ▲