expensive

expensive

expensive [adjective]
US /ɪkˈspen.sɪv/ 
UK /ɪkˈspen.sɪv/ 
Example: 

An expensive house

costing a lot of money OPP cheap

Persian equivalent: 
Example: 

An expensive house

Oxford Essential Dictionary

expensive

 adjective
Something that is expensive costs a lot of money:
expensive clothes
The meal was very expensive.
 opposite cheap

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

expensive

expensive S1 W2 /ɪkˈspensɪv/ BrE AmE adjective
[Word Family: noun: ↑expenditure, ↑expense, expenses; verb: ↑expend; adverb: ↑expensively ≠ ↑inexpensively; adjective: ↑expensive ≠ ↑inexpensive]
costing a lot of money OPP cheap:
the most expensive restaurant in town
Petrol is becoming more and more expensive.
Photography is an expensive hobby.
expensive to buy/run/produce/maintain etc
The house was too big and expensive to run.
For low-income families, children’s safety equipment can be prohibitively expensive (=so expensive that most people cannot afford it).
Employing the wrong builder can be a horribly expensive mistake.
Her husband had expensive tastes (=liked expensive things).
—expensively adverb:
She’s always expensively dressed.
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ adverbs
quite/fairly expensive The food’s quite expensive, but it’s really nice.
rather/pretty expensive (=more expensive than you expect) I think £1000 for a bed is rather expensive.
very/extremely expensive We ate at a very expensive restaurant.
astronomically/phenomenally expensive (=used to emphasize how expensive something is) Some new medical treatments are phenomenally expensive.
hugely expensive (=extremely expensive, especially when you think something is too expensive) The building is hugely expensive to maintain.
ridiculously/outrageously/horrendously expensive (=extremely expensive, in a way that seems shocking) Room service in the hotel was ridiculously expensive.
extortionately expensive (=extremely expensive, in a way that is not fair or reasonable) Houses in some parts of London are extortionately expensive.
prohibitively expensive formal (=too expensive, with the result that most people cannot afford to buy something) HIV medicines are still prohibitively expensive for sufferers in Africa.
■ verbs
look expensive All of her clothes look very expensive.
prove expensive Their decision could prove expensive.
■ nouns
expensive tastes (=a desire to have things that are very expensive) His wife has very expensive tastes and his kids always want the latest things.
an expensive mistake (=a mistake which results in someone having to spend a lot of money) Choosing the wrong builder turned out to be an expensive mistake.
• • •
THESAURUS
expensive costing a lot of money: an expensive car | Apartments in the city are very expensive. | An underground train system is expensive to build.
high costing a lot of money.You use high about rents/fees/prices/costs. Don’t use expensive with these words: Rents are very high in this area. | Lawyers charge high fees. | the high cost of living in Japan
dear [not before noun] British English spoken expensive compared to the usual price: £3.50 seems rather dear for a cup of coffee.
pricey /ˈpraɪsi/ informal expensive: The clothes are beautiful but pricey.
costly expensive in a way that wastes money: Upgrading the system would be very costly. | They were anxious to avoid a costly legal battle.
cost a fortune informal to be very expensive: The necklace must have cost a fortune!
exorbitant /ɪɡˈzɔːbətənt, ɪɡˈzɔːbɪtənt $ -ɔːr-/ much too expensive: Some accountants charge exorbitant fees.
astronomical astronomical prices, costs, and fees are extremely high: the astronomical cost of developing a new spacecraft | the astronomical prices which some people had paid for their seats | The cost of living is astronomical.
overpriced too expensive and not worth the price: The DVDs were vastly overpriced.
somebody can’t afford something someone does not have enough money to buy or do something: Most people can’t afford to send their children to private schools.

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

expensive

ex·pen·sive   [ɪkˈspensɪv]    [ɪkˈspensɪv]  adjective
costing a lot of money
an expensive car/restaurant/holiday
Art books are expensive to produce.
I can't afford it, it's too expensive.
Making the wrong decision could prove expensive.
That dress was an expensive mistake.
Opp:  inexpensive
Derived Word: expensively  
Word Origin:
early 17th cent. (in the sense ‘lavish, extravagant’): from Latin expens- ‘paid out’, from the verb expendere, from ex- ‘out’ + pendere ‘weigh, pay’ + -ive.  
Thesaurus:
expensive [expensive expensively] adj.
I can't afford expensive restaurants.
costlyoverpriced|informal pricey
Opp: cheap, Opp: inexpensive
expensive/costly/pricey for sb/sth
expensive/costly to do sth  
Synonyms:
expensive
costly overpriced pricey
These word all describe sth that costs a lot of money.
expensivecosting a lot of money; charging high prices: I can't afford it— it's just too expensive for me. an expensive restaurant
costly(rather formal) costing a lot of money, especially more than you want to pay: You want to avoid costly legal proceedings if you can.
overpricedtoo expensive; costing more than it is worth: ridiculously overpriced designer clothes
pricey(informal) expensive: Houses in the village are now too pricey for local people to afford.
dear[not usually before noun] (BrE) expensive: Everything's so dear now, isn't it?
This word is starting to become rather old-fashioned.
expensive/costly/overpriced/pricey for sb/sth
expensive/costly to do sth
very/too/fairly/quite/pretty expensive/costly/pricey 
Example Bank:
Food in this country is getting very expensive.
Giving every patient an annual anti-flu injection would be prohibitively expensive.
Her suit looked extremely expensive.
I found the food very expensive.
Some of these legal cases are enormously expensive.
Walls are generally the greatest source of heat loss and correspondingly expensive to tackle.
discreetly expensive perfume
Art books are enormously expensive to produce.
I can't afford it— it's just too expensive for me.
Making the wrong decision could prove to be expensive.
• That dress was an expensive mistake.

• an expensive restaurant

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 4th Edition
 

expensive / ɪkˈspen.sɪv / adjective

A1 costing a lot of money:

Rolls Royces are very expensive.

Big houses are expensive to maintain.

She has expensive tastes (= she likes things that cost a lot of money) .

expensively / -li / adverb

Sarah is always expensively dressed (= wearing expensive clothes) .

© Cambridge University Press 2013

Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary

expensive

/ɪkspensɪv/

Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.

If something is expensive, it costs a lot of money.
Wine’s so expensive in this country...
I get very nervous because I’m using a lot of expensive equipment.

= costly

inexpensive

ADJ

ex‧pen‧sive‧ly
She was expensively dressed, with fine furs and jewels...

cheaply

ADV: ADV -ed, ADV after v

Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary

Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary: 

expensive

ex·pen·sive /ɪkˈspɛnsɪv/ adj [more ~; most ~] : costing a lot of money
• an expensive hobby
• an expensive car
expensive clothes
• The lights were expensive to install.
• They live in an expensive neighborhood. [=a neighborhood in which houses, apartments, etc., cost a lot to buy or rent]
• Her decision to leave the company proved to be an expensive mistake. [=a mistake that caused her to lose a lot of money]
• an expensive shop [=a shop that sells expensive things]
• He has expensive tastes. [=he likes expensive things]
- ex·pen·sive·ly adv
• He dresses expensively.

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