DictionaryAI

expensive

adjective
ik-SPEN-siv/ɪkˈspɛnsɪv/

4 meanings of expensive

Practice

  1. 1
    high priceadjective
    Costing a large amount of money; high in price.

    The renovation turned out to be far more expensive than they had budgeted for.

    Imported wines tend to be expensive because of shipping costs and tariffs.

    UsageCompare with more and most: more expensive, most expensive. A thing is expensive, but its price is usually high.

    Similarcostly, pricey, dear, high-priced

    Oppositecheap, inexpensive, low-priced

    Note

    As the everyday word for high-priced it has largely displaced dear, which does this job far less often now. Costly and pricey are close neighbors, and cheap or inexpensive its opposites. The word usually describes the thing itself: an item is expensive, while its price is more often called high.

  2. 2
    computingadjective
    Using a large amount of system time, memory, or processing power.

    Recursive functions can be computationally expensive when the input grows large.

    Rendering high-resolution graphics is expensive in both memory and processing time.

    UsageOften computationally expensive or expensive in memory or time; said of operations and choices rather than machines.

    Similarcostly, demanding

    Oppositecheap, inexpensive

    Note

    Programmers borrow the language of price for costs paid in processor time and memory rather than dollars. The word is usually comparative in spirit. An unnecessarily expensive choice of algorithm is one that costs more than an alternative would.

  3. 3
    adjectiveobsolete
    In the habit of spending large sums of money freely, even wastefully.
    Note

    A word for the spender rather than the price, and now obsolete. Richardson's Clarissa (1747–48) has a young man who had been very expensive abroad and ran up a large debt. Smollett's Peregrine Pickle (1751) pairs it with generous for a man who squandered his allowance. Because the high-priced meaning has taken over, a modern reader hears an "expensive son" as one who costs a lot, not one who spends a lot.

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

    • Expensive has an obsolete sense describing a lavish spender. en.wiktionary.org
    • Samuel Richardson wrote Clarissa. gutenberg.org
    • Clarissa began publication in 1747 and was completed in 1748; the passage occurs in its first volume. en.wikipedia.org
    • Clarissa describes a young man who spent lavishly abroad and incurred a large debt. gutenberg.org
    • Tobias Smollett wrote Peregrine Pickle, first published in 1751. en.wikipedia.org
    • The novel pairs generous with expensive when describing Peregrine squandering his allowance. gutenberg.org

Less common meaning

  1. 4
    adjective
    In cricket, conceding runs at a high rate as a bowler; having a high economy rate.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of expensive apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

From reconstructed Latin *expēnsīvus, from expendō ("to weigh out or pay out money"), which also gives English expend. It can be analyzed as expense plus -ive, and in the sense of "high-priced" it has largely replaced dear.

Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 5 facts