costly

[ kawst-lee, kost- ]

adjective

, cost·li·er, cost·li·est.

1. costing much; expensive; high in price:

   a costly emerald bracelet; costly medical care.

   Synonyms: high-priced, dear

2. resulting in great expense:

   The upkeep of such a large house is costly.

3. resulting in great detriment:

   It was a costly mistake because no one ever trusted him again.

4. of great value; very valuable; sumptuous.
5. lavish; extravagant.

costly

/ ˈkɒstlɪ /

adjective

1. of great price or value; expensive
2. entailing great loss or sacrifice

   a costly victory

3. splendid; lavish

Derived Forms

• ˈcostliness, noun

Other Words From

• costli·ness noun
• over·costli·ness noun
• over·costly adjective
• un·costly adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of costly¹

First recorded in 1350–1400, costly is from the Middle English word costli. See cost, -ly

Synonym Study

See expensive.

Example Sentences

He suggested, for instance, that removing Section 230 protections for self-serve ad content could force small publishers to decide between establishing costly new ad moderation procedures or finding other ways to support their content.

From Digiday

Also, individuals were less attractive targets for costly lawsuits than wealthy corporations.

From ProPublica

Our analysis found many examples of contract terms that experts say are costly to the cash-strapped towns that fund the agreements.

From ProPublica

Despite attempts to rein in police union contracts in New Jersey, costly provisions remain common, an unprecedented analysis by the Asbury Park Press and ProPublica found.

From ProPublica

We believe Infinitus’ VoiceRPA solution enables healthcare organizations to automate previously costly and manual calls and faxes and empowers these organizations to see benefits from end-to-end process automation.

From TechCrunch

Pulling oil from the tar sands is costly, even more so when you tack transportation costs on top.

From The Daily Beast

The studio took him at his word and jumped at the chance to close down, or at least reduce, his costly operation.

From The Daily Beast

Is she too hawkish for the activists who helped make her vote for the Iraq War so costly back in the 2008 campaign?

From The Daily Beast

Governor Bobby Jindal insists it would be too costly for the state, whose share would total nearly $2 billion over 10 years.

From The Daily Beast

The drawback was that the terrain in front of Bradley made success very costly.

From The Daily Beast

And the absence of paper and so forth, rendering notebooks costly and rare, made a large amount of memorizing necessary.

From Project Gutenberg

Not one of the early electric actions proved either quick or reliable, and all were costly to install and maintain.

From Project Gutenberg

This sum probably included the costly buildings required for the beam-engines, which Trevithick's plan dispensed with.

From Project Gutenberg

In Europe they are made of the most costly materials, and studded with the rarest gems.

From Project Gutenberg

In Parliament, where of course the old costly fashions have long been out of vogue, the change is equally noticeable.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• catastrophic
• disastrous
• ruinous