costly
Americanadjective
-
costlier,
comparative
-
costliest
superlative
-
costing much; expensive; high in price.
a costly emerald bracelet; costly medical care.
- Synonyms:
- high-priced, dear
-
resulting in great expense.
The upkeep of such a large house is costly.
-
resulting in great detriment.
It was a costly mistake because no one ever trusted him again.
-
of great value; very valuable; sumptuous.
-
lavish; extravagant.
adjective
-
of great price or value; expensive
-
entailing great loss or sacrifice
a costly victory
-
splendid; lavish
Synonym Usage
See expensive.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of costly
First recorded in 1350–1400, costly is from the Middle English word costli. See cost, -ly
Explanation
Something that's costly is expensive. The worst kind of news you can hear from your car mechanic is that you need costly repairs. Things that cost a lot of money are costly, but you can also use the word for events that cost you other things — like time, happiness, or advantage. A soldier's costly mistake might result in someone's death, and a costly law might end up hurting the people it's meant to help.In the 13th century, costful was used instead, and both words stem from cost, which has a Latin root, constare, "to stand at," or "to cost."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A system that produces inexpensive answers but requires repeated corrections can be costly to use.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Ebbw Fawr Learning Community in Blaenau Gwent introduced the chaperones in response to costly vandalism and excessive time spent out of lessons.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Supporters say Prop 45 will speed up environmental review for essential housing, transportation, water, health, education and other projects, cutting costly delays and passing the savings on to consumers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
Some institutions are also considering revising tenure provisions and are even rethinking costly intercollegiate athletic spending.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
What he meant was yes, a campaign would be costly.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
The route there, though, will be slower, costlier and more crowded than the excitement suggests.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
As costlier fuel works its way into other products and services, “core” inflation, which excludes food and energy, comes under upward pressure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
When companies don’t expect costlier energy to persist, they don’t try as hard to raise prices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
Higher interest rates make it costlier to borrow money, which acts as a brake on spending and economic growth.
From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2026
But they bowed to Sproul’s judgment that losing Lawrence would be even costlier, and voted to cover all the annual operating and maintenance costs that Lawrence had budgeted for the Rad Lab.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Meanwhile, Terra Drone has partnered with Japanese precision manufacturers to develop components like batteries—the costliest part of a drone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
This is probably the least costly option, but also the costliest politically.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Burns: It is one of the costliest mistakes investors make.
From MarketWatch ● May 26, 2026
The Los Angeles blazes were the costliest wildfires in world history, with total insured losses estimated at $40 billion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
He called Burnham a “colossal merchandiser” fixated on building the biggest, tallest, costliest structures.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
