Link Centre Dictionary

expensive

ex·pen·sive

UK/ɪkˈspɛnsɪv/ US/ɪkˈspɛnsɪv/ common

adjective

1.

high in price or charging high prices

  • “expensive clothes”
  • “an expensive shop”
Antonyms
Similar

Origin

From Latin *expēnsīvus, from expendō (“to weigh out (money), to pay out”) (whence English expend). By surface analysis, expense + -ive. In the sense of "high-priced" has largely displaced dear.

Phrases

  • an arm and a leg
  • expensive drunk
  • give one's eye-teeth
  • give one's left nut
  • give one's right arm
  • good value
  • it's too expensive
  • pay through the nose

Related words

Word family

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.