expensive
adjectivecommon in dialogue
- //ɪkˈspɛnsɪv//
- /[ɪkˈspɛnsɪv]/
- //ɪkˈspɪnsɪv//
Having a high price or cost.
adjective
- 1
Having a high price or cost.
If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the ever more expensive and then universally known killing hazards of gasoline cars: air and water pollution, noise and noxiousness, constant coughing and the undeniable rise in cancers caused by smoke exhaust particulates.
In Starbucks’s case, the firm has in effect turned the process of making an expensive cup of coffee into intellectual property.
- 2
Taking a lot of system time or resources.
an unnecessarily expensive choice of algorithm
- 3
obsoleteGiven to expending a lot of money; profligate, lavish.
[…] And that he looked into his own affairs, and underſtood them; That he had, when abroad, been very expenſive; and contracted a large debt (for he made no ſecret of his affairs); […]
[…] thus naturally generous and expenſive, he ſquandered away his money, and made a moſt ſplendid appearance upon the receipt of his quarterly appointment; […]
- 4
Having a high economy rate.
Etymology
From Latin *expēnsīvus, from expendō (“to weigh out (money), to pay out”) (whence English expend). By surface analysis, expense + -ive. In the sense of "high-priced" has largely displaced dear.
Forms
- comparative
- more expensive
- superlative
- most expensive