expensive
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- expencive (archaic)
Etymology[edit]
From Latin expēnsīvus, from expendō; synchronically analyzable as expense + -ive. In the sense of "high-priced" has largely displaced dear.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɪkˈspɛnsɪv/, /ɛkˈspɛnsɪv/
Audio (UK) (file) Audio (US) (file) Audio (file)
Adjective[edit]
expensive (comparative more expensive, superlative most expensive)
- (obsolete) Given to expending a lot of money; profligate, lavish.
- 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, I.4:
- [H]e had been very expensive when abroad; and contracted a large debt […].
- 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, I.25:
- [T]hus naturally generous and expensive, he squandered away his money, and made a most splendid appearance upon the receipt of his quarterly appointment […] .
- 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, I.4:
- Having a high price or cost.
- 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion[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 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:
- […] 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.
- (computing) Taking a lot of system time or resources.
- an unnecessarily expensive choice of algorithm
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
having a high price or cost
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See also[edit]
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English words suffixed with -ive
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
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- English lemmas
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- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- en:Computing
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