costly (B2)

adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈkɔːst.li/

Definition

Requiring a large amount of money; expensive.

Examples

• The repairs to the historic building were extremely costly.

• Buying a house in this city is very costly.

• It was a costly mistake to ignore the warning signs.

How to Use costly

costly to [verb] (prepositional phrase)

Expensive to perform a certain action. — "It is costly to maintain such a large fleet of vehicles."

costly for [someone] (prepositional phrase)

Having a high price or negative consequence for a particular person or group. — "The new policy proved to be costly for small businesses."

Synonyms of costly

Words with a similar meaning to costly:

• expensive
• pricy
• dear
• high-priced
• exorbitant

Antonyms of costly

Words with the opposite meaning to costly:

• cheap
• inexpensive
• affordable

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