Meaning

(transitive, ditransitive) To incur a charge of; to require payment of a (specified) price..

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive, ditransitive) To incur a charge of; to require payment of a (specified) price.
2. (transitive, ditransitive) To cause something to be lost; to cause the expenditure or relinquishment of.
3. To require to be borne or suffered; to cause.
4. To calculate or estimate a price.
5. (transitive, colloquial) To cost (a person) a great deal of money or suffering.
6. Amount of money, time, etc. that is required or used.
7. A negative consequence or loss that occurs or is required to occur.
8. (obsolete) Manner; way; means; available course; contrivance.

Example Sentences

This shirt cost $50, while this was cheaper at only $30.

It will cost you a lot of money to take a trip around the world.

Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor;[…].

Trying to rescue the man from the burning building cost them their lives.

the packaging of home-delivered products now accounts for 30% of the solid rubbish the US generates annually, and the cardboard alone costs 1bn trees.

though it cost me ten nights' watchings

to do him wanton rites, which cost them woe

LUKE: "That little droid is going to cost me a lot of trouble."

Word Forms

• costs
• costing
• cost
• costed

Synonyms for cost

Related Words

When Should You Use Cost?

Use cost when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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