costly
adjective
cost·ly
ˈkȯs(t)-lē 
costlier; costliest
2
: made or done at heavy expense or sacrifice
a costly mistake
costliness
noun
Synonyms
Examples of costly in a Sentence
We use less costly materials in our products.
It was too costly to fix her car after the accident, so she decided to buy a new car instead.
They won the game, but their best player was injured, so it was a costly victory.
The decision to wait could be a costly mistake.
Recent Examples on the Web
That was always going to be costly, but nobody likely anticipated just how much.
—
Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Apr. 2024
Buying a house is costlier than anytime in at least the last decade, with property buyers hit with the double whammy of rising mortgage rates and home prices, according to real estate company Redfin.
—Khristopher J. Brooks, CBS News, 25 Apr. 2024
Thanks to Amazon's thousands of affordable shoe racks, keeping all your sneakers, sandals, heels, and boots tidy doesn’t have to be costly.
—Toni Sutton, Peoplemag, 24 Apr. 2024
And calling special elections for costly tax measures makes no sense while, over the past couple of decades, most local jurisdictions have moved their board elections to coincide with statewide and national elections to encourage greater voter participation.
—East Bay Times Editorial, The Mercury News, 24 Apr. 2024
Kelly and her aides have consistently described the legislation, which would move Kansas from three state income tax brackets to two and give many taxpayers a cut in the process, as too costly.
—Jonathan Shorman, Kansas City Star, 24 Apr. 2024
The court system does not normally release daily transcripts for public consumption and in most cases, seeing transcripts for a court proceeding can be costly.
—Alan Feuer, New York Times, 23 Apr. 2024
This is time-consuming and costly, so the researchers also built a self-calibration capability into their system.
—IEEE Spectrum, 23 Apr. 2024
Storage isn’t merely a costly (or sneaky) means for hiding loot away from art-hungry audiences.
—Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 22 Apr. 2024
Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Apr. 2024
Buying a house is costlier than anytime in at least the last decade, with property buyers hit with the double whammy of rising mortgage rates and home prices, according to real estate company Redfin.
—Khristopher J. Brooks, CBS News, 25 Apr. 2024
Thanks to Amazon's thousands of affordable shoe racks, keeping all your sneakers, sandals, heels, and boots tidy doesn’t have to be costly.
—Toni Sutton, Peoplemag, 24 Apr. 2024
And calling special elections for costly tax measures makes no sense while, over the past couple of decades, most local jurisdictions have moved their board elections to coincide with statewide and national elections to encourage greater voter participation.
—East Bay Times Editorial, The Mercury News, 24 Apr. 2024
Kelly and her aides have consistently described the legislation, which would move Kansas from three state income tax brackets to two and give many taxpayers a cut in the process, as too costly.
—Jonathan Shorman, Kansas City Star, 24 Apr. 2024
The court system does not normally release daily transcripts for public consumption and in most cases, seeing transcripts for a court proceeding can be costly.
—Alan Feuer, New York Times, 23 Apr. 2024
This is time-consuming and costly, so the researchers also built a self-calibration capability into their system.
—IEEE Spectrum, 23 Apr. 2024
Storage isn’t merely a costly (or sneaky) means for hiding loot away from art-hungry audiences.
—Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 22 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'costly.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near costly
Cite this Entry
“Costly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/costly. Accessed 1 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
costly
adjective
cost·ly
ˈkȯs(t)-lē
costlier; costliest
1
: of great cost or value
costly furs
2
: gained at great expense or sacrifice
a costly victory
costliness
noun
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