expensive

A1 Topic:Money & Finance

US /ɪkˈspɛnsɪv/ UK /ɪkˈspɛnsɪv/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like expansive /ɛ/ vs /æ/

adj Freq #1857

Meanings

1

adj
Costing a lot of money.

These designer clothes are far too expensive for me.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · costing a lot of money. costly dearhigh-pricedpricey

More big-ticketdispendiousexexpennyfancy lickpenny princelyspendy

Opposites

affordable attainable bargain budget cheap discountecono-economical inexpensivejitneylow-endlow-priced

Word family

Forms expensively

Derived forms expennyexpensivelyexpensivenessinexpensivenonexpensivespennospennyspensivesuperexpensiveultraexpensiveunexpensive

Related forms cost-consciousexorbitant expend expenditure expense exploitive frugalinflationarymiser miserlyno-frillsoverpriced

Etymology

From Latin *expēnsīvus, from expendō (“to weigh out (money), to pay out”) (whence English expend). By surface analysis, expense + -ive. In the sense of "high-priced" has largely displaced dear.

*expēnsīvus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Money & Finance

# expensive

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ɪkˈspɛnsɪv
**IPA (UK):** ɪkˈspɛnsɪv
**Frequency rank:** 1857

## Meanings
1. Costing a lot of money.

## Examples
- These designer clothes are far too expensive for me.

## Synonyms
- big-ticket
- costly
- dear
- dispendious
- ex
- expenny
- fancy
- high-priced
- lickpenny
- pricey
- princely
- spendy

## Antonyms
- affordable
- attainable
- bargain
- budget
- cheap
- discount
- econo-
- economical
- inexpensive
- jitney
- low-end
- low-priced

## Derived Forms
- expenny
- expensively
- expensiveness
- inexpensive
- nonexpensive
- spenno
- spenny
- spensive
- superexpensive
- ultraexpensive
- unexpensive

## Related Forms
- cost-conscious
- exorbitant
- expend
- expenditure
- expense
- exploitive
- frugal
- inflationary
- miser
- miserly
- no-frills
- overpriced

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *expēnsīvus
- Affix: -ive - tending to

## Etymology
From Latin *expēnsīvus, from expendō (“to weigh out (money), to pay out”) (whence English expend). By surface analysis, expense + -ive. In the sense of "high-priced" has largely displaced dear.

## AI Etymology
Expensive comes from Latin *expēnsīvus, from expendō (“to weigh out (money), to pay out”) (whence English expend). By surface analysis, expense + -ive. In the sense of "high-priced" has largely displaced dear. In current use, the main sense is “Costing a lot of money”.

## Topics
- Money & Finance

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