cost

noun

\ ˈkȯst

Definition of cost

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a : the amount or equivalent paid or charged for something : price The average cost of a college education has gone up dramatically.

b : the outlay or expenditure (as of effort or sacrifice) made to achieve an object He achieved fame, but at the cost of losing several friends.

2 : loss or penalty incurred especially in gaining something the cost of lives during war

3 costs plural : expenses incurred in a judicial process especially : those given by the law or the court to the prevailing party against the losing party

at all costs

: regardless of the cost or consequences was determined to win at all costs

at cost

: for the price of production buys clothes at cost directly from the manufacturer

cost

verb

cost; costing

Definition of cost (Entry 2 of 2)

intransitive verb

1 : to require expenditure or payment The best goods cost more.

2 : to require effort, suffering, or loss

transitive verb

1 : to have a price of Each ticket costs 25 dollars.

2 : to cause to pay, suffer, or lose something Frequent absences cost him his job.

3 past costed\ ˈkä-stəd

\ : to estimate or set the cost of —often used with out The project has yet to be costed out.

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Examples of cost in a Sentence

Noun

She attends college at a cost of $15,000 a year. The average cost of raising a family has increased dramatically. We offer services at a fraction of the cost of other companies. What's the difference in cost? They believe that everyone should have access to adequate medical care, regardless of cost. The cost of doing business in this area is high. We need better cost control. Winning the war, he believes, was worth the cost in lives. What are the costs and benefits of the new law?

Verb

The trip will cost you about $100 each way. The project will end up costing the government an estimated 3.5 billion dollars. It will cost you a lot of money, but it'll be worth it. His frequent absences ended up costing him his job. The error cost me a reprimand, but nothing more serious than that. a blunder that has cost her considerable embarrassment

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

By building houses, American Homes avoids sales commissions and renovation costs. — Ryan Dezember, WSJ, "Wall Street’s Big Landlords Are So Hungry for Houses They’re Building Them," 3 Jan. 2019 Since those are typically made from natural gas or petroleum derivatives, their price will depend on fossil fuel costs. — John Timmer, Ars Technica, "Bikes, bowling balls, and the delicate balancing act that is modern recycling," 31 Dec. 2018 According to the Daily Mail, the party cost upwards of $500,000, because real snow was brought in, food for 200 people was prepared, and the security presence was major. — Amy Mackelden, Harper's BAZAAR, "The Kardashian-Jenner Babies Stole the Show at the Kardashian Christmas Party 2018," 26 Dec. 2018 The significant cost increase more likely comes from a company’s sustainability and fair-labor practices throughout the supply and production chain — which, Nodarse says, is worth it. — Tabor Wordelman, Teen Vogue, "Your Yoga Pants Are Polluting the Water You Drink," 19 Dec. 2018 Anyone would be forgiven for needing a rest from the fracas, and shifting gears to a more pleasurable endeavor; namely, tracking down the silliest, most beautiful baked good that the interwebs have to offer, whatever the gastrointestinal cost. — Marley Marius, Vogue, "Here’s How to Make 2018’s Most-Googled Food," 12 Dec. 2018 Senator Ted Kennedy, who became the center of a mysterious scandal that may have cost this once shoo-in for president the office and changed the course of American history. — Cady Drell, Marie Claire, "13 Best Movies Based on True Stories of 2018," 7 Nov. 2018 Some manufacturers, including Coca-Cola, have been asked to ship from their warehouses so Amazon can cut its own costs. — Recode Staff, Recode, "Recode Daily: A Russian disinformation campaign used every major social media platform to help elect President Trump," 17 Dec. 2018 Get your kids on board with cutting costs by talking to them about what matters to you as a family. — Arricca Elin Sansone, Woman's Day, "9 Surprisingly Easy Ways to Save Money This Weekend," 14 Nov. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Some family plans cost a few bucks extra a month, but many offer multiple accounts and simultaneous streams by default. — David Pierce, WSJ, "33 Mostly Free Ways to Fix Your Family’s Tech Problems," 23 Dec. 2018 Breaking it down further, sitting anywhere between the two blue lines cost $215 per game in the lower bowl and between $50 and $60 in the arena’s upper deck. — Geoff Baker, The Seattle Times, "How much money can Seattle NHL fans expect to pay for tickets? More than in most other sports," 5 Dec. 2018 Rather than the $3,000 cost of traditional monitoring systems, these cost only $300. — Helena Pozniak, Popular Mechanics, "The Technology That Will Finally Stop Poachers," 26 Nov. 2018 The spare batteries typically cost $99.99, and the drone goes for $649.99. — Ashley Carman, The Verge, "Parrot releases useful new photo modes for its Anafi drone," 25 Oct. 2018 Both of these options cost $210 after receiving a $20 rebate card from Newegg, and each comes with a beefed-up 8GB of onboard memory. — Brad Chacos, PCWorld, "Upgrade your gaming rig with these smoking-hot graphics card deals," 22 Oct. 2018 Teslas cost on average $142 per day to rent on the platform, more than three times the average car. — Rani Molla, Recode, "Elon Musk’s summer of bad behavior hasn’t affected Tesla’s sales, but it has hurt its reputation," 10 Oct. 2018 Per Vanity Fair, the renovations cost a jaw-dropping $1.8 million, to help make the 21-room Apartment 1 liveable. — Amy Mackelden, Harper's BAZAAR, "Are Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Going to Be Neighbors with Prince William and Kate Middleton?," 7 Oct. 2018 Adult tickets cost about $25 after the Euro conversion, and about $23 for students and people over the age of 60. — Rachel Epstein, Marie Claire, "Why Meghan Markle's Second Wedding Dress Won't Be On Display for the Public," 30 Aug. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cost.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.