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Expensive means something is high priced or costs a lot of money.

Expensive is most often applied to items with very high prices, such as luxury cars. But it can also be used to describe things whose price or cost is simply high compared to others.

Example: I like it, but it’s just too expensive. Do you have any lower-priced models?

The first records of expensive come from the 1620s. It is the adjective form of the older noun expense, which means “cost” or “something that needs to be paid for.” Expense derives from the Latin verb expendere, meaning “to expend” (“to pay out or spend”). The suffix -ive makes expensive an adjective.

Most often, things are described as expensive when they always have a high price, like mansions and designer dresses, or a high cost, like weddings. Of course, what one person considers expensive may be inexpensive to another person. It depends on how much a person is willing to spend and how much money they have. Sometimes, expensive means that the price or cost of something seems high compared to similar items. For example, $5 might not be a high price in general, but it would be considered pretty expensive for a single apple. Such a thing would often be called overpriced.

What are some other forms related to expensive?

• expensively (adverb)
• expensiveness (noun)

What are some synonyms for expensive?

• pricey
• high-priced
• costly

What are some words that share a root or word element with expensive?��

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• expense
• expenditure
• expendable

What are some words that often get used in discussing expensive?

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• price
• cost
• price tag
• purchase
• money
• luxury
• overpriced

What are some words expensive may be commonly confused with?

• expansive

Expensive is a relative term, usually depending on how much money someone has. But it is always used in relation to how much something costs.

The FDA recently approved 2 transformative new treatments for sickle-cell disease, the first in 20 years. But the drugs are wildly expensive, renewing troubling questions about access to cutting-edge medicines.

— The New York Times (@nytimes)

I really want to get back into photography but camera equipment is way too expensive 😅

— 𝒮𝒶𝓇𝒶 (@SaraRenae15)

i just bought lettuce for $3, isn’t that a little expensive for a ball of leaves

— cheryl (@sheryourk)

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Which of the following things is most likely to be described as expensive?

A. gumball
B. generic shampoo
C. luxury car
D. half-price socks