exorbitant

[ig-zawr-bi-tuhnt]

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adjective

exceeding the bounds of custom, propriety, or reason, especially in amount or extent; highly excessive: to charge an exorbitant price; exorbitant luxury.

Archaic. outside the authority of the law.

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Origin of exorbitant

1425–75; late Middle English < Late Latin exorbitant- (stem of exorbitāns, present participle of exorbitāre to go out of the track), equivalent to ex- ex-¹ + orbit(a) wheel track (see orbit) + -ant- -ant

SYNONYMS FOR exorbitant

inordinate, outrageous, extreme, extravagant, unreasonable, unconscionable.

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ANTONYMS FOR exorbitant

fair, reasonable.

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Related formsex·or·bi·tant·ly, adverbun·ex·or·bi·tant, adjectiveun·ex·or·bi·tant·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for exorbitant

Ultimately, the changing threat and enormous price tag doomed the program and only three ships will be built at exorbitant cost.
Can the Navy's $12 Billion Stealth Destroyer Stay Afloat?|Dave Majumdar|October 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I was looking around a lot in Manhattan, but the prices were exorbitant.
Chloe Sevigny on ‘The Cosmopolitans,’ New York’s Frat Boy Takeover, and ‘Asshole’ Michael Alig|Marlow Stern|August 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A helping of free PR, all while skillfully avoiding the exorbitant day rate of British fashion model Daisy Lowe.
How Marc Jacobs Punk’d the Modeling World|Lizzie Crocker|July 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
President Obama is right to point how the exorbitant cost of child care can be devastating for families.
Why Obama’s Plan for Working Moms Just Won’t Work|Cathy Reisenwitz|July 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST

He charged a fee, sometimes quite an exorbitant one, to those who could afford it, and helped others for free.
Beck's Lessons for Liberals|Michael Tomasky|June 29, 2011|DAILY BEAST
I was most surprised at the exorbitant price and the variety of seats.
Visit to Iceland|Ida Pfeiffer
The Duomo at Milan was squat, ugly, overrated, and the hotel charges in that city were most exorbitant.
The Recipe for Diamonds|Charles John Cutcliffe Wright Hyne
And not in thirty years was it disputed, or held to be exorbitant.
Sergeant York And His People|Sam Cowan
Its consequence was the natural one: she borrowed; but she borrowed upon bad terms, indeed on the most exorbitant usury.
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. I. (of 12)|Edmund Burke
All of the landlords have a store, so as to furnish their tenants with goods of an inferior quality at exorbitant prices.
Fifty Years a Hunter and Trapper|Eldred Nathaniel Woodcock

British Dictionary definitions for exorbitant

exorbitant

adjective

(of prices, demands, etc) in excess of what is reasonable; excessive; extravagant; immoderate

Derived Formsexorbitance, nounexorbitantly, adverb

Word Origin for exorbitant

C15: from Late Latin exorbitāre to deviate, from Latin orbita track

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

Word Origin and History for exorbitant

exorbitant

adj.

mid-15c., a legal term, "deviating from rule or principle, eccentric;" from Latin exorbitantem (nominative exorbitans), present participle of exorbitare "deviate, go out of the track," from ex- "out of" (see ex-) + orbita "wheel track" (see orb). Sense of "excessive, immoderate" is from 1620s; of prices, rates, etc., from 1660s. Related: Exorbitantly.