costly
adjective
cost·ly
ˈkȯs(t)-lē 
costlier; costliest
2
: made or done at heavy expense or sacrifice
a costly mistake
costliness
noun
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
Why Has Back-Office Automation Been So Hard? Back-office functions like accounting, HR, sales ops, compliance and data management have historically been labor-intensive and error-prone, difficult to scale, costly to maintain and built on disconnected legacy systems.
—
Sudhir Menon, Forbes.com, 30 Apr. 2025
Listen to this article 3 min A prank carried out by the son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich has proven to be a costly one.
—Paulina Dedaj, FOXNews.com, 30 Apr. 2025
The rest of their Game 5 performance was not
The Pistons-Knicks Game 4 no-call: How costly could that be?
Comments
S
Stu A.
· 15h 35m ago
Most overrated player, huh?
—The Athletic Nba Staff, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025
Some similar budget frustrations were expressed with the Del Mar Hills modernization, which was delayed and over-budget due to the legal challenges with the Del Mar Heights rebuild and the need for a costly seismic retrofit.
—Karen Billing, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for costly
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Sudhir Menon, Forbes.com, 30 Apr. 2025
Listen to this article 3 min A prank carried out by the son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich has proven to be a costly one.
—Paulina Dedaj, FOXNews.com, 30 Apr. 2025
The rest of their Game 5 performance was not
The Pistons-Knicks Game 4 no-call: How costly could that be?
Comments
S
Stu A.
· 15h 35m ago
Most overrated player, huh?
—The Athletic Nba Staff, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025
Some similar budget frustrations were expressed with the Del Mar Hills modernization, which was delayed and over-budget due to the legal challenges with the Del Mar Heights rebuild and the need for a costly seismic retrofit.
—Karen Billing, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for costly
Cite this Entry
“Costly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/costly. Accessed 4 May. 2025.
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
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share