expensive
Americanadjective
adjective
Usage
What does expensive mean? Expensive means something is high priced or costs a lot of money. Expensive is most often applied to items with very high prices, such as luxury cars. But it can also be used to describe things whose price or cost is simply high compared to others. Example: I like it, but it’s just too expensive. Do you have any lower-priced models?
Synonym Usage
Expensive, costly, dear, high-priced apply to something that is high in price. Expensive is applied to whatever entails considerable expense; it suggests a price more than the average person would normally be able to pay or a price paid only for something special: an expensive automobile. Costly implies that the price is a large sum, usually because of the fineness, preciousness, etc., of the object: a costly jewel. Dear is commonly applied in England to something that is selling beyond its usual or just price. In the U. S., high-priced is the usual equivalent.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of expensive
Explanation
The adjective expensive means high in price, like the expensive basketball sneakers you had to work all summer to save up enough money to buy. Expensive comes from the 1620s, when it meant "given to profuse expenditure." Back then, it was the people doing the buying who got called "expensive." Now it's the costly things they buy or take part in. For example, sailing is an expensive hobby. If someone tells you, "I have expensive taste," it means that person likes things that cost a lot of money, whether they are purchased or just admired from the shop window.
Vocabulary lists containing expensive
List 1
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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.
Khan says that the auto dealership group is contending with a weak retail environment, expensive vehicles and consumers who are pulling back, especially on big ticket items.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026
Apple is also expected to launch an expensive foldable iPhone this year.
From Barron's • May 27, 2026
Tomatoes have also become quite expensive, with prices skyrocketing nearly 40 percent in April compared to last year, per the Consumer Price Index.
From Salon • May 27, 2026
Although some people like the quarterly payment of bills, it is a more expensive option.
From BBC • May 27, 2026
As lady’s maid to the president’s wife, her tasks included caring for the expensive silk and woolen clothing and the linens worn closest to the body, as well as delicate lace and handkerchiefs.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
