costly Hear it!

costly Definition

costly (kôstlē, käst-)

adjective -·lier, -·li·est

    1. costing much; expensive; dear
    2. at the cost of great effort, damage, sacrifice, etc. a costly victory
  1. magnificent; sumptuous
  2. Archaic lavish; extravagant

Etymology: ME: see cost & -ly

costly Related Forms
cost·li·ness noun
costly Synonyms

costly

modif.

high-priced, expensive, precious; see expensive, harmful. See syn. study at expensive.

costly Usage Examples

Modifying Another Word

  • prohibitively: By 1812 only one volume of Willan's Cutaneous Diseases had appeared as the colored engravings were proving prohibitively costly.
  • disproportionately: Yes, and vise versa if you request a replacement and this is " disproportionately costly " .
  • potentially: Climate change is therefore likely to have considerable and potentially costly implications for the UK.
  • extremely: However, getting an ECO scheme wrong can be extremely costly.
  • too: All three of these options are possible, however the first option would probably be far too costly.
  • excessively: Are central banks likely to err on the side of excessively costly or cumbersome systems?

Infinitive complement

  • administer: Book prizes are the least costly to administer, because literary judges are the least well paid and work from home.
  • rectify: This process is designed to prevent misunderstandings, which may prove costly to rectify.
  • implement: Consequently, the demonstration of devices is less costly to implement at a national level.
  • maintain: These are the least bureaucratic EI practices, and are the least costly to maintain.
  • replace: Make sure Quickclear heated front screen isn't damaged as they're costly to replace.
  • fix: Brakes take a beating and are costly to fix, so check they work properly.

Modifies a noun

  • mistake: This is a costly mistake I have seen several clients fall foul of in recent times.
  • litigation: They embrace provisions which have many times proved a fruitful source of costly litigation.
  • downtime: Regular scanner maintenance is a sure way to minimize costly downtime.
  • duplication: This process replaces internal 'approved vendor lists ' and eliminates costly duplication in pre-qualifying suppliers.
  • repercussion: Recommend trying out have costly repercussions after that there what sort of.
  • blunder: A couple of years ago he used to mar his performances with a costly blunder every now and again.

Used with adjective complement

  • prove: Just like last week's game, missed free throws proved costly in both halves of the match.

Preposition: in

  • term: But it will be costly in terms of time and money.

Browse dictionary entries near costly

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