How to Use costly in a Sentence

costly

adjective
Definition of costlynext
Synonyms for costlynext
  • 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
  • Renting near the beach has never looked so good — or so costly.
    — Phillip Molnar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Feb. 2024
  • The final preseason game against the Chiefs was costly for the Browns from an injury standpoint.
    — cleveland, 26 Aug. 2023
  • Until that kind of scale is achieved, the transition will continue to be a costly grind.
    — Tom Randall, Fortune, 8 Sep. 2023
  • According to Sky News, this is the most costly Olympic construction project yet.
    — Charlotte Phillipp, Peoplemag, 18 Mar. 2024
  • Researchers have pointed out that this will be a slow and costly endeavour.
    — Nature Magazine, Scientific American, 13 Nov. 2023
  • The primates will even climb to higher ground to scope out their surroundings and avoid other groups, since fights would be costly.
    — Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Nov. 2023
  • Winter expected to be costlier for those who heat with oil.
    — Mary Gilbert, CNN, 19 Oct. 2023
  • But on the rare occasions of an accident, the results can be costly, and even deadly.
    — Keith Matheny, Detroit Free Press, 25 July 2023
  • Drake Callender started in goal, and made a couple of early saves, but his error in the 31st minute proved costly.
    — Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, 11 Apr. 2024
  • Harbaugh’s miscue wasn’t his team’s only one of the day, with that series of mistakes proving to be costly.
    — Craig Meyer, Detroit Free Press, 8 Jan. 2024
  • But the going has proved incredibly slow and costly in blood and treasure.
    — ABC News, 6 Aug. 2023
  • Many of our picks are machine-washable on a gentle cycle or can be hand-washed, saving a costly trip to the dry cleaner.
    — Paula Lee, Glamour, 12 Oct. 2023
  • Keeping up with self-tanning can be costly and tedious, which is where bronzing drops come in.
    — Nerisha Penrose, ELLE, 25 July 2023
  • The agreement allows both sides to avoid a possibly costly and lengthy trial.
    — Jimmy Jenkins, The Arizona Republic, 16 Aug. 2023
  • With a 56-ounce bottle of Fabuloso selling for close to $5 today, that’s a costly cleaning habit in and of itself.
    — Mary Cornetta, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 Dec. 2023
  • The study found that San Diego International Airport’s daily rate of $38 per day was the costliest.
    — City News Service, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Oct. 2023
  • The Rams are 3-3 after a victory Sunday over the Arizona Cardinals but the win proved costly.
    — Gary Klein, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2023
  • The subsequent efforts by the city of Los Angeles to save the buildings and help the tenants inside them have been costly and marred by missteps.
    — Los Angeles Times, 17 Nov. 2023
  • Lower bond yields make borrowing less costly for consumers on items big and small.
    — Max Zahn, ABC News, 19 Dec. 2023
  • Credit cards can indeed be very costly for borrowers — and, in turn, very profitable for lenders.
    — Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 30 Aug. 2023
  • Some automakers are reevaluating their costly EV strategies as the year comes to a close.
    — Alexa St. John, Fortune, 7 Dec. 2023
  • But the bill could be costly and faces an uphill battle as the state grapples with a multibillion-dollar budget deficit.
    — Mackenzie Mays, Los Angeles Times, 31 Mar. 2024
  • But any gains Ukraine makes against the entrenched Russian forces are likely to be costly and bring high casualties on the Ukrainian side.
    — Andrew E. Kramer, BostonGlobe.com, 11 June 2023
  • Proposition 1 is an attempt to manage the state’s mental health crisis and is very costly.
    — Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, 27 Feb. 2024
  • Water repairs and upgrades have always been costly across the country.
    — Rachel Ramirez, CNN, 2 Sep. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'costly.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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