costly
nounEtymology From Middle English costly, costely, costeley, equivalent to cost + -ly.
1
Card games, Games Abbreviation Short for costly colours.
- Costly is a simpler game than cribbage.
costly
adjUK /ˈkɒst.li/
Etymology From Middle English costly, costely, costeley, equivalent to cost + -ly.
1
Of high cost; expensive.
- a costly activity
- a costly error
3 more examples
- In the early days troubles were experienced with oscillation from the rod drive and with the transformers, but were overcome later, and these machines performed useful service until superseded by more modern locomotives less costly in maintenance.1960 December 23, Cecil J. Allen, “Operating a mountain main line: the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 743:
- Individual mistakes proved costly for Wigan who, particularly after the half-time introduction of Hugo Rodallega, dominated for long periods.2011 October 15, Michael Da Silva, “Wigan 1 - 3 Bolton”, in BBC Sport:
- Since sexual relationships are more costly for female primates – they bear the kids – females are the choosier sex.2012 March 2, Elizabeth Landau, “Beholding beauty: How it’s been studied”, in CNN:
- Synonyms
- dear, expensive, prohibitive
- Antonyms
- costlessly
- Derived terms
- costlily, costliness, costly colours, overcostly, uncostly