Meaning & use
expensive
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Costing a lot of money, especially more than you expected or than similar things cost.
Grammar: Works before a noun or after a verb: an expensive watch, the watch is expensive.
Patterns
- expensive to do something
- expensive for someone
The restaurant was too expensive for a casual dinner.
It is expensive to run an old car.
She bought an expensive coat and wore it for ten years.
adjectivebefore a nounfigurative
Causing a large loss or cost in the end, such as a costly mistake or delay.
Grammar: Usually describes errors, delays or choices: an expensive mistake.
Patterns
- an expensive mistake
Forgetting to back up the files turned out to be an expensive mistake.
The delay was expensive for the whole team.
An expensive lesson taught him to read contracts.
Word forms
| comparative | more expensive |
|---|---|
| superlative | most expensive |
Common combinations
- prohibitively expensive
- Housing in the capital is prohibitively expensive.
- relatively expensive
- Fresh fruit is relatively expensive in winter.
- expensive taste
- He has expensive taste in watches.
- an expensive mistake
- Buying the wrong ticket was an expensive mistake.
- far too expensive
- The repair was far too expensive to justify.
- more expensive than
- The blue model is more expensive than the red one.
Synonyms and how they differ
- costly
- Costly is slightly more formal and often hints at a high price paid in effort or loss, not just money.
- pricey
- Pricey is informal and often sounds like a mild complaint about a price.
- dear
- Dear is mainly British and means high-priced, but it is old-fashioned in many contexts.
- lavish
- Lavish describes generous, rich spending or display, whereas expensive only describes a high price.
Opposites
Word family
- expense noun
- the money spent, or a cost
- expensively adverb
- at high cost or in a costly way
- inexpensive adjective
- low in price
- expenses noun
- money spent on work or daily needs
Commonly confused: expensive or expansive?
expensive vs expansive
Expansive means wide or friendly and open, not high-priced. Expensive refers only to cost.
Practice
The tickets were so ___ that we decided to watch the match at home.
Choose one answer.
Expensive means high in price and explains the decision to stay home. 'Expansive' and 'extensive' are different words, and 'exclusive' implies limited access, not cost.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “expensive”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.