Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of high price or value; expensive.
- adjective Entailing loss or sacrifice.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Of great price; acquired, done, or practised at much cost, as of money, time, trouble, etc.; expensive; rich; occasioning great expense or expenditure: as, a costly habit; costly furniture; costly vices.
- Lavish; extravagant.
- Synonyms Precious, etc. See
valuable . - In a costly manner; expensively; richly; gorgeously.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of great cost; expensive; dear.
- adjective Poetic. Gorgeous; sumptuous.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Of high
cost ;expensive .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective entailing great loss or sacrifice
- adjective having a high price
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Mr. Obama is most eager to eliminate what he calls "costly tax cuts for oil companies."
This Is No Time to Discourage U.S. Oil and Gas Production Robert Bryce 2011
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McCain criticized Democratic contenders for offering what he called costly universal health care proposals that require too much government regulation.
McCain Camp Declining To Comment On Cheney Assertion That Senator Apologized To Him 2009
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McCain criticized Democratic contenders for offering what he called costly universal health-care proposals that require too much government regulation.
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McCain criticized Democratic contenders for offering what he called costly universal health-care proposals that require too much government regulation.
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Congressional Republicans staged a show of unity against what they describe as costly and dangerous government intervention in US health care, marching into the House chamber for a closed-door strategy session.
Yahoo! News: Latest news headlines News Headlines | Top Stories 2010
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The president's Republican foes in Congress, meanwhile, made a show of united opposition to the legislation, Obama's top domestic goal, and vowed to make every effort to derail what they called a costly and dangerous proposal.
Yahoo! News: Latest news headlines News Headlines | Top Stories 2010
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Congressional Republicans staged a show of unity against what they describe as costly and dangerous government intervention in US health care, marching into the House chamber for a closed-door strategy session.
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The president's Republican foes in Congress, meanwhile, made a show of united opposition to the legislation, Obama's top domestic goal, and vowed to make every effort to derail what they called a costly and dangerous proposal.
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Coburn and other Republicans have long tried to strip out federal funds that Murtha earmarked for the center, which they call a costly boondoggle.
Latest Articles 2009
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Fund says VW plans appear to favour Porsche owners * Wealth fund does not openly threaten to sell VW shares * Fund held $450 mln stake in VW at end 2008 By Wojciech Moskwa assets, which it called costly and "unacceptable."
WN.com - Articles related to VT willow harvest promises cheap biomass fuel 2009
yarb commented on the word costly
To have devised
a Theory of Evolution, yet
to imagine we remain somehow outside
its sensible advance, has been our costly
luxury up till now...
- Peter Reading, The Con Men, from Nothing for Anyone, 1977
June 26, 2008