EXPENSIVE | Meaning, Definition In Cambridge English Dictionary

Meaning of expensive in English expensiveadjective uk /ɪkˈspen.sɪv/ us /ɪkˈspen.sɪv/ Add to word list Add to word list A1 costing a lot of money: Rolls Royces are very expensive.be expensive to Big houses are expensive to maintain.expensive taste She has expensive tastes (= she likes things that cost a lot of money). Synonyms costly (EXPENSIVE) dear (EXPENSIVE) mainly UK pricey informalOpposites cheap inexpensive costing a lot of money

• expensiveHe thinks he's special with his expensive suits and fancy shoes.
• dearUK I find the veg too dear in that supermarket.
• costlyThey made several costly mistakes, including spending $60 million on shoddy machinery.
• priceyThe restaurants in town are a bit pricey.
• exclusiveThey have an apartment in an exclusive part of town.

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• If you send it by airmail, it'll be very expensive.
• I treated myself to a meal in an expensive restaurant.
• Toddlers don't need expensive toys and games to keep them amused.
• A large house like this must be expensive to heat.
• A lot of businesses are moving out of London because it's too expensive.

Expensive & luxurious

• be expensive to do
• champagne
• costliness
• costly
• expensive taste
• expensively
• grandly
• lush
• luxuriant
• luxurious
• luxury
• opulently
• palatially
• plush
• plushly
• poshly
• poshness
• ultra-posh
• unaffordable
• white elephant

See more results »

Related word

expensively (Definition of expensive from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

expensive | American Dictionary

expensiveadjective [ not gradable ] us /ɪkˈspen·sɪv/ Add to word list Add to word list costing a lot of money: Housing in this part of the country is very expensive.

expensively

adverb [ not gradable ] us /ɪkˈspen·sɪv·li/ She was expensively dressed. (Definition of expensive from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

expensive | Business English

expensiveadjective uk /ɪkˈspensɪv/ us Add to word list Add to word list costing a lot of money: Business class travel has become very expensive. He was looking for insurance to cover the expensive equipment in his home office.sth is expensive to do Older houses are expensive to maintain. prohibitively/extremely/hugely expensive (Definition of expensive from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of expensive

expensive We also suspected that the timber solutions would be more expensive. From the Cambridge English Corpus Institutional funds may need expensive computer systems for administration, accounting, and reporting requirements. From the Cambridge English Corpus Local finance is too expensive under structural adjustment to make agricultural marketing profitable. From the Cambridge English Corpus Staff time is both valuable and expensive and a more economic model of assessment procedures could be developed. From the Cambridge English Corpus They are also less expensive and thus should be preferred for first-step t reatment in older patients. From the Cambridge English Corpus Aggregating at this level might be empirically difficult or expensive, but makes sense theoretically. From the Cambridge English Corpus For instance, a person with very extensive care needs is usually referred to institutional care because home-care would be much more expensive. From the Cambridge English Corpus Thus, an experienced, talented embroiderer working on the panels for elaborate, expensive dresses could expect to earn, at most, slightly less than £80 per year. From the Cambridge English Corpus The virtual nature of a computer-based training simulation enables training to be accomplished without risking damage to man or in most cases to expensive equipment. From the Cambridge English Corpus Moreover, the method is easily available in the laboratory, less expensive and user-friendly for guiding physicians to the proper treatment of typhoid fever. From the Cambridge English Corpus All would provide federal financial assistance to the uninsured (based on income) to make the cost of care less expensive. From the Cambridge English Corpus Furthermore, more expressive languages may be too computationally expensive to use automated reasoning technology. From the Cambridge English Corpus Finally, we have shown that highly expressed proteins tend to use energetically less expensive amino acids. From the Cambridge English Corpus Any alterations at proof stage, apart from the correction of printer's misprints, are expensive and must be avoided. From the Cambridge English Corpus Whatever their merits and promise, these physiologically-based techniques are more complex, and in many instances considerably more expensive to use, than verbal response alone. From the Cambridge English Corpus These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. What is the pronunciation of expensive?

Translations of expensive

in Chinese (Traditional) 昂貴的, 用錢多的, 價格高的… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 昂贵的, 花钱多的, 价格高的… See more in Spanish caro, caro/ra [masculine-feminine]… See more in Portuguese caro, dispendioso, caro/-ra [masculine-feminine]… See more in Marathi in Japanese in Turkish in French in Catalan in Dutch in Tamil in Hindi in Gujarati in Danish in Swedish in Malay in German in Norwegian in Urdu in Ukrainian in Russian in Arabic in Bengali in Czech in Indonesian in Thai in Vietnamese in Polish in Korean in Italian महाग… See more （値段が）高い, 高価（こうか）な… See more pahalı… See more cher/chère, coûteux/-euse, onéreux/-euse… See more car… See more duur… See more நிறைய பணம் செலவாகும்… See more महँगा… See more મોંઘું, ખર્ચાળ… See more dyr, kostbar… See more dyr… See more mahal… See more teuer… See more dyr, kostbar… See more قیمتی, مہنگا… See more дорогий… See more дорогой, дорогостоящий… See more غالٍ… See more ব্যয়বহুল, খুবই খরচসাপেক্ষ, দামি… See more nákladný… See more mahal… See more แพง… See more đắt tiền… See more drogi, kosztowny… See more 값비싼… See more costoso, caro… See more Need a translator?

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expense account expense ratio expenses claim expenses phrase expensive expensive taste expensively experience experience curve {{#randomImageQuizHook.filename}} {{#randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes Try a quiz now {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{^randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.filename}}

More meanings of expensive

• expensive taste
• super-expensive
• ultra-expensive
• be expensive to do
• super expensive, at super-expensive
• miles too big, small, expensive, etc. idiom

See all meanings

• miles too big, small, expensive, etc. idiom

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UK /ˈbɒn.i/ US /ˈbɑː.ni/

beautiful and healthy

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  • Adjective 
    • expensive
  • Adverb 
    • expensively
• Business   Adjective
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