How to Use costly in a Sentence

costly

adjective

• The decision to wait could be a costly mistake.
• They won the game, but their best player was injured, so it was a costly victory.
• It was too costly to fix her car after the accident, so she decided to buy a new car instead.
• We use less costly materials in our products.
• Still, the Bud Light saga has been a costly one for the brewer.
  — Dee-Ann Durbin, Fortune, 3 Aug. 2023
• The next attempt proved costly, as Quinn sent a long corner kick to the box in the 42nd minute.
  — Drew Schott, The Arizona Republic, 9 Apr. 2022
• But in the near term, the tie proved more costly for Washington.
  — Nate Davis, USA TODAY, 5 Dec. 2022
• The Rays worked two walks to begin the game and both free passes proved costly.
  — Jaylon Thompson, Kansas City Star, 5 July 2024
• The search for the Atocha’s treasure proved costly for Fisher.
  — April Rubin, BostonGlobe.com, 3 Dec. 2022
• The Shake Shack meal was much more costly than the other entries in this taste test but worth the price.
  — Brenda Cain, cleveland, 13 Jan. 2022
• John sets forth a (very costly) plan to relocate the herd.
  — Katie Bowlby, Country Living, 19 Dec. 2022
• That walk proved costly, bringing Judge to the plate in position to hit the three-run blast.
  — Andy Kostka, Baltimore Sun, 22 July 2022
• The campaign has been nasty and costly, crowned among the most expensive in the nation.
  — Karen Heller, Washington Post, 13 May 2022
• But in the long run, not leveraging AI at all will be even costlier.
  — Alon Goren, Forbes, 20 Sep. 2024
• That stoppage of play proved costly, because the snap went high and slipped through the holder's hands.
  — The Courier-Journal, 5 Dec. 2022
• By Deutsche’s metrics, however, New York is by far the costliest place to rent in the world.
  — Greg McKenna, Fortune, 27 June 2025
• Still, turnovers proved costly, as Chicago gave the ball away 18 times, leading to 18 Aces points.
  — Grant Afseth, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Aug. 2025
• Renting near the beach has never looked so good — or so costly.
  — Phillip Molnar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Feb. 2024
• Longer-term, the curve may need to be reconstructed, tricky and more costly because the curve is raised above the ground.
  — Kenneth R. Gosselin, courant.com, 6 Mar. 2022
• Analysts have said the months of bloody fighting in Bakhmut have been costly for both sides.
  — Jennifer Hassan, Washington Post, 13 Mar. 2023
• The mistakes that were made are no more costly to anyone than myself.
  — Amiah Taylor, Fortune, 26 Apr. 2022
• Getting a background check will be more costly in the coming year.
  — Olivia Evans, The Courier-Journal, 30 Dec. 2022
• Scruggs led Xavier with 21 points and four 3-pointers, but his five turnovers were costly.
  — Adam Baum, The Enquirer, 5 Feb. 2022
• Classes also can be costly and some may find a lack of value in the practice.
  — Asha C. Gilbert, USA TODAY, 17 Feb. 2022
• Fighting here began last spring and it's been bitter and costly to both sides.
  — Brian Mann, NPR, 24 Dec. 2024
• This is why waiting for the all-clear signal can be costly.
  — Jim Osman, Forbes.com, 27 June 2026
• The baserunning mistake was costly.
  — Kansas City Star, 27 June 2026
• But those are costly and uncertain, so a creditor is more likely to accept less than the full balance owed.
  — Brian Sloan, CNBC, 26 June 2026
• Parking decks are even costlier.
  — Beth Livesay, AJC.com, 26 June 2026
• At the same time, CapEx for most companies is costly.
  — Colin Dodds, Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 June 2026