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cost
1[ kawst, kost ]
noun
- the price paid to acquire, produce, accomplish, or maintain anything:
the high cost of a good meal.
Synonyms: outlay, expenditure, expense, charge
- an outlay or expenditure of money, time, labor, trouble, etc.:
What will the cost be to me?
- a sacrifice, loss, or penalty:
to work at the cost of one's health.
Synonyms: detriment
- costs, Law.
- money allowed to a successful party in a lawsuit in compensation for legal expenses incurred, chargeable to the unsuccessful party.
- money due to a court or one of its officers for services in a cause.
verb (used with object)
- to require the payment of (money or something else of value) in an exchange:
That camera cost $200.
- to result in or entail the loss of:
Carelessness costs lives.
- to cause to lose or suffer:
The accident cost her a broken leg.
- to entail (effort or inconvenience):
Courtesy costs little.
- to cause to pay or sacrifice:
That request will cost us two weeks' extra work.
- to estimate or determine the cost of (manufactured articles, new processes, etc.):
We have costed the manufacture of each item.
verb (used without object)
- to estimate or determine costs, as of manufacturing something.
verb phrase
- to calculate the cost of (a project, product, etc.) in advance:
The firm that hired him just costed out a major construction project last month.
cost-
2- variant of costo- before a vowel:
costate.
cost
/ kɒst /
noun
- the price paid or required for acquiring, producing, or maintaining something, usually measured in money, time, or energy; expense or expenditure; outlay
- suffering or sacrifice; loss; penalty
count the cost to your health
I know to my cost
- the amount paid for a commodity by its seller
to sell at cost
- ( as modifier )
the cost price
- plural law the expenses of judicial proceedings
- at any cost or at all costsregardless of cost or sacrifice involved
- at the cost ofat the expense of losing
verb
- tr to be obtained or obtainable in exchange for (money or something equivalent); be priced at
the ride cost one pound
- to cause or require the expenditure, loss, or sacrifice (of)
the accident cost him dearly
- to estimate the cost of (a product, process, etc) for the purposes of pricing, budgeting, control, etc
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Derived Forms
- ˈcostless, adjective
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Other Words From
- costless adjective
- costless·ness noun
- re·cost verb (used with object) recost recosting
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of cost1
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Idioms and Phrases
- at all costs, regardless of the effort involved; by any means necessary: Also at any cost.
The stolen painting must be recovered at all costs.
More idioms and phrases containing cost
see arm and a leg, cost an ; at all costs ; pretty penny, cost a .Discover More
Synonym Study
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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