Meaning & use
priceless
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
So valuable that no amount of money could measure its worth.
Grammar: Goes before a noun or after be: a priceless painting.
Patterns
- be priceless
- a priceless something
The museum protects a priceless collection of ancient coins.
Her grandmother's letters are priceless to her.
Good friends are priceless.
adjectivecomparableinformal
Extremely funny, often because of an absurd situation or expression.
Grammar: Often used about someone's face or reaction: his expression was priceless.
Patterns
- look priceless
- be priceless
The look on his face was priceless.
Her reaction to the surprise was priceless.
The photo of the dog in a hat is priceless.
Common combinations
- priceless treasure
- The vase is a priceless treasure.
- priceless artwork
- Thieves stole priceless artwork from the gallery.
- a priceless gift
- Her advice was a priceless gift.
- priceless memories
- The trip gave us priceless memories.
- absolutely priceless
- His face was absolutely priceless.
Synonyms and how they differ
- invaluable
- Invaluable means extremely useful, while priceless suggests worth beyond money.
- precious
- Precious means loved or rare but can still have a price.
- hilarious
- Hilarious describes laughter only, while priceless also hints at a memorable moment.
- irreplaceable
- Irreplaceable stresses that nothing could replace it, not its value.
Opposites
Word family
- price noun
- the amount of money something costs
- pricey adjective
- expensive, informal
- pricelessly adverb
- in a way beyond price, rare
- underprice verb
- to charge too little
Commonly confused: priceless or worthless?
priceless vs worthless
Priceless means extremely valuable while worthless means having no value, even though both end in -less.
Practice
When the toddler tried on her father's shoes, her face was ___.
Choose one answer.
Informally, priceless describes something so funny or memorable it cannot be valued. Costly and pricey refer to money, and worthless has the opposite meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “priceless”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.