exorbitant

adjective

ex·​or·​bi·​tant ig-ˈzȯr-bə-tənt 

1

: not coming within the scope of the law

2

: exceeding the customary or appropriate limits in intensity, quality, amount, or size

exorbitantly adverb

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How was exorbitant first used?

Not all who wander are lost, but at one time such errant souls might have been called exorbitant. Exorbitant traces back to the Late Latin verb exorbitare, meaning “to deviate,” which in turn was formed by combining the prefix ex- (“out of”) with the noun orbita, which referred to the rut or track of a wheel. While exorbitant could describe something moving erratically—physically straying from its usual course—it was also applied figuratively to other “wanderers,” such as off-topic remarks, powers going beyond the scope of the law, and even sinful people, i.e., those no longer on the straight and narrow. Eventually, exorbitant developed its extended sense as a synonym of excessive, and it is now used to describe that which exceeds appropriate or customary limits in intensity, quality, amount, or size.

Synonyms of exorbitant

• excessive
• extreme
• steep
• extravagant
• insane

Choose the Right Synonym for exorbitant

excessive, immoderate, inordinate, extravagant, exorbitant, extreme mean going beyond a normal limit.

excessive implies an amount or degree too great to be reasonable or acceptable.

excessive punishment

immoderate implies lack of desirable or necessary restraint.

immoderate spending

inordinate implies an exceeding of the limits dictated by reason or good judgment.

inordinate pride

extravagant implies an indifference to restraints imposed by truth, prudence, or good taste.

extravagant claims for the product

exorbitant implies a departure from accepted standards regarding amount or degree.

exorbitant prices

extreme may imply an approach to the farthest limit possible or conceivable but commonly means only to a notably high degree.

extreme shyness

Examples of exorbitant in a Sentence

The citizens of Xiaoli Village move lazily, with a languor born of chronic underemployment. They are farmers by tradition, but exorbitant taxes have leached any profitability out of their profession. —Hannah Beech, Time, 27 Oct. 2003

As with the black truffle, foie gras is as exorbitant ($52 a pound) as it is decadent (one gram of foie gras can reportedly be 900 calories). —Heather Morgan, Traveler, April 2000

… I recommend that the Congress adopt … [a] continuation of the law for the renegotiation of war contracts—which will prevent exorbitant profits and assure fair prices to the Government. —Franklin D. Roosevelt 11 Jan. 1944, in Nothing to Fear by B. D. Zevin,  1946

They were charged exorbitant rates for phone calls.

the cost of our stay was so exorbitant you would have thought that we had bought the hotel and not just spent a few nights there

Recent Examples on the Web

History is unforgiving to those who ignore structural chokepoints, as seen during the 1956 Suez Canal Crisis which crippled European supply lines overnight, and the Tanker War of the 1980s, which forced vessels to pay exorbitant insurance premiums or face destruction. —Siddharth Misra, Fortune, 28 Mar. 2026

Families squeeze into schools and churches while landlords demand exorbitant rents and advance payments. —Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 27 Mar. 2026

Mamdani and the Council should instead work together on the long-term and lasting solutions to the housing crisis, which boil down to mostly putting new or existing housing stock back online in sufficient numbers to drive exorbitant housing costs down. —New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 26 Mar. 2026

The suit alleges the companies deliberately raised ticket-window prices over the years to exorbitant levels in an effort to push consumers into buying their season passes at earlybird prices in the spring for the subsequent season. —John Meyer, Denver Post, 26 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Late Latin exorbitant-, exorbitans, present participle of exorbitare to deviate, from Latin ex- + orbita track of a wheel, rut, from orbis disk, hoop

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

exorbitant

adjective

ex·​or·​bi·​tant ig-ˈzȯr-bət-ənt 

: going beyond the limits of what is fair, reasonable, or expected

exorbitant prices

exorbitantly adverb