Collocations for "expensive"
Common phrases and expressions where native English speakers use the word "expensive" in context.
WordReference English Collocations © 2025
expensive
ⓘMost examples are given in US English. We have labeled exceptions as UK.adj
- an expensive [watch, vacation, car, restaurant, treatment, feature, process]
- [made, was] an expensive [mistake, error, miscalculation]
- (too) expensive to [buy, operate, run, maintain, build]
- too expensive for [most, me, some]
- expensive for what we had [thought, planned, in mind]
- expensive for what it [is, does, provides, offers]
- expensive in the long [run, term]
- expensive but [efficient, secure, beneficial]
- expensive and [confusing, difficult, complicated, risky]
- [quite, very, not very, rather, too, a little, not at all] expensive
- not (quite) as expensive as [others]
- more expensive than [hers, others, all others, most]
- [more, less] expensive than I [thought, expected]
'expensive' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Australia
- Netherlands
- be
- beautiful
- bill
- chandelier
- clad
- commodity
- complicated
- constitute
- earring
- elaborate
- error
- everything
- fare
- five
- frequent
- generally
- heating
- house
- housing
- jewel
- jolly
- lately
- lavish
- lengthy
- less
- lodging
- lot
- mahogany
- maintenance
- miss
- mortgage
- much
- museum
- necklace
- nowadays
- ordered
- overrated
- painting
- peak
- penthouse
- perfume
- pilot
- player
- possibly
- property
- prostitute
- relatively
- repair