What does costly mean?

Definitions for costly
ˈkɔst li, ˈkɒst-cost·ly

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word costly.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. dearly-won, costlyadjective

    entailing great loss or sacrifice

    "a dearly-won victory"

  2. costly, dear(p), high-priced, pricey, pricyadjective

    having a high price

    "costly jewelry"; "high-priced merchandise"; "much too dear for my pocketbook"; "a pricey restaurant"

Wiktionary

  1. costlyadjective

    Of high cost; expensive.

  2. Etymology: Composition:

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Costlyadjective

    Sumptuous; expensive; of a high price.

    Etymology: from cost.

    Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
    But not exprest in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
    For the apparel oft proclaims the man. William Shakespeare, Hamlet.

    Leave for a while thy costly country-seat;
    And to be great indeed, forget
    The nauseous pleasures of the great. Dryden.

    The chapel of St. Laurence will be perhaps the most costly piece of work on the face of the earth, when completed. Joseph Addison, Remarks on Italy.

    He is here speaking of Paradise, which he represents as a most charming and delightful place; abounding with things not only useful and convenient, but even the most rare and valuable, the most costly and desireable. John Woodward, Nat. History.

ChatGPT

  1. costly

    Costly refers to something that has a high price or is expensive. It can also refer to something involving great effort, loss or sacrifice, or consuming a lot of time or resources.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Costlyadjective

    of great cost; expensive; dear

  2. Costlyadjective

    gorgeous; sumptuous

  3. Etymology: [From Cost expense.]

British National Corpus

  1. Adjectives Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'costly' in Adjectives Frequency: #935

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

How to pronounce costly?

How to say costly in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of costly in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of costly in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4

Examples of costly in a Sentence

  1. Bill Clinton:

    I think Bill Clinton all agree that Bill Clinton have to change the way the government works, let’s make it … less costly and smaller – leaner, not meaner.

  2. Myint Thein:

    It will be costly but it must be done, the environment has changed, so the people must learn to adapt.

  3. Joseph Sansone:

    Guolin Ma breached a duty of trust and confidence to the private equity firms when Guolin Ma bought thousands of shares of OmniVision stock while aware of the impending transaction, it was a costly mistake.

  4. Dhiren Gupta:

    These medicines, which either you give by nebulisers or by inhalers, are costly. So the burden lies on the parents and the family.

  5. Natalie Wood:

    Oh goodness, if I was n’t able to touch [ that money ], I would n’t have electricity, water, or a roof over my head, but you know, the thing a lot of us forget, Natalie Wood included, is you put down first, last, and a security deposit and you’re in a place. But how about all the deposits necessary for water, gas, electricity — all of our things had to be put in storage. Even doing that we lost more than half of everything we owned … and finding a motel that would accept us with dogs was not easy. It was costly … We’re still coming to terms with everything, so we’re not pulled together by any stretch of the imagination, but we’re trying. I ’m trying very hard to make it a home.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

costly#10000#10003#100000

Translations for costly

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

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"costly." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 17 Mar. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/costly>.

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