cost
the price paid to acquire, produce, accomplish, or maintain anything: the high cost of a good meal.
an outlay or expenditure of money, time, labor, trouble, etc.: What will the cost be to me?
a sacrifice, loss, or penalty: to work at the cost of one's health.
costs, Law.
money allowed to a successful party in a lawsuit in compensation for legal expenses incurred, chargeable to the unsuccessful party.
money due to a court or one of its officers for services in a cause.
to require the payment of (money or something else of value) in an exchange: That camera cost $200.
to result in or entail the loss of: Carelessness costs lives.
to cause to lose or suffer: The accident cost her a broken leg.
to entail (effort or inconvenience): Courtesy costs little.
to cause to pay or sacrifice: That request will cost us two weeks' extra work.
to estimate or determine the cost of (manufactured articles, new processes, etc.): We have costed the manufacture of each item.
to estimate or determine costs, as of manufacturing something.
cost out, to calculate the cost of (a project, product, etc.) in advance: The firm that hired him just costed out a major construction project last month.
Idioms about cost
at all costs, regardless of the effort involved; by any means necessary: The stolen painting must be recovered at all costs.: Also at any cost.
Origin of cost
1synonym study For cost
Other words for cost
Other words from cost
- costless, adjective
- cost·less·ness, noun
- re·cost, verb (used with object), re·cost, re·cost·ing.
Words Nearby cost
Other definitions for cost- (2 of 2)
variant of costo- before a vowel: costate.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use cost in a sentence
Kanukollu said they have cut down on power consumption from the LED lights by 50% and reduced the cost of manufacturing by 60% per tube.
UrbanKisaan is betting on vertical farming to bring pesticide-free vegetables to consumers and fight India’s water crisis | Manish Singh | September 17, 2020 | TechCrunchNow teams are international, talent is international, more and more companies are building remote first — although you’d seen that before given the costs of the Bay.
With Goat Capital, Justin Kan and Robin Chan want to keep founding alongside the right teams | Eric Eldon | September 17, 2020 | TechCrunchStill, that’s a fraction of the costs incurred by out-of-control wildfires.
Suppressing fires has failed. Here’s what California needs to do instead. | James Temple | September 17, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewTo many people, these changes look like the necessary costs of progress.
The Environmental Headache in Your Shampoo - Issue 90: Something Green | Anastasia Bendebury & Michael Shilo DeLay | September 16, 2020 | NautilusWhile it’s tough to imagine that AMP will fade away completely within the next couple of years, AMP’s privacy issues combined with the cost of maintaining it might spell the end of it being a widely used practice.
Google ranking factors to change search in 2021: Core Web Vitals, E-A-T, or AMP? | Aleh Barysevich | September 16, 2020 | Search Engine Watch
Using standard methods, the cost of printing DNA could run upwards of a billion dollars or more, depending on the strand.
“The sensation these objects presented receded as their cost increased,” notes Rabinowitz.
Like him, they identified the Airbus A320 as an airplane extremely well fitted to low cost airline operations in Asia.
Annoying Airport Delays Might Prevent You From Becoming the Next AirAsia 8501 | Clive Irving | January 6, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTMalaysian-based entrepreneur Tony Fernandes has turned AirAsia into the most successful low cost airline in southeast Asia.
Annoying Airport Delays Might Prevent You From Becoming the Next AirAsia 8501 | Clive Irving | January 6, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTBut the F-35 has been plagued with massive delays and cost overruns—mostly due to design defects and software issues.
New U.S. Stealth Jet Can’t Fire Its Gun Until 2019 | Dave Majumdar | December 31, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTMrs. Wurzel was quite right; they had been supplied, regardless of cost, from Messrs. Rochet and Stole's well-known establishment.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3) | Charles James WillsThey feel that the system has few advantages to offer in return for the cost it entails upon them.
Readings in Money and Banking | Chester Arthur PhillipsHe became a doctor in two hours, and it only cost him twenty dollars to complete his education.
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun; | VariousThe estimated cost of the alterations is put at £16,000 including fittings.
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham | Thomas T. Harman and Walter ShowellA clock was put above the spot where the fountain stood, in April, 1852, which cost £60.
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham | Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell
British Dictionary definitions for cost
/ (kɒst) /
the price paid or required for acquiring, producing, or maintaining something, usually measured in money, time, or energy; expense or expenditure; outlay
suffering or sacrifice; loss; penalty: count the cost to your health; I know to my cost
the amount paid for a commodity by its seller: to sell at cost
(as modifier): the cost price
(plural) law the expenses of judicial proceedings
at any cost or at all costs regardless of cost or sacrifice involved
at the cost of at the expense of losing
(tr) to be obtained or obtainable in exchange for (money or something equivalent); be priced at: the ride cost one pound
to cause or require the expenditure, loss, or sacrifice (of): the accident cost him dearly
to estimate the cost of (a product, process, etc) for the purposes of pricing, budgeting, control, etc
Origin of cost
1Derived forms of cost
- costless, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with cost
see arm and a leg, cost an; at all costs; pretty penny, cost a.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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