Expensive

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ɪkˈspÉ›nsɪv/

Alternative forms

• expencive archaic

Origin

From Latin expensivus, from expendere, compare expense

Full definition of expensive

Adjective

1. Having a high price or cost.
• 2006, w, Internal Combustion Chapter 1, 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: … .
• 2013-06-22, T time, … a new study of how Starbucks has largely avoided paying tax in Britain … shows that current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate … “stateless income”: …. … the firm has in effect turned the process of making an expensive cup of coffee into intellectual property.
2. (computing) Taking a lot of system time or resources.
   an unnecessarily expensive choice of algorithm

Synonyms

• dear
• costly
• pricey

Antonyms

• cheap
• inexpensive
• low-priced

Derived terms

• expensively
• expensive drunk