Webster's English Dictionary

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costly

cost.ly \'ko.s(t)-le-\ aj 1: of great cost or value  2: GORGEOUS, SPLENDID  
   3: made at heavy expense or sacrifice LUABLE, PRICELESS: COSTLY implies 
   high price and may suggest sumptuousness, luxury, or rarity; EXPENSIVE may 
   further imply a price beyond the thing's value or the buyer's means; DEAR 
   implies a relatively high or exorbitant price usu. due to factors other 
   than the thing's intrinsic value; VALUABLE may suggest worth measured in 
   usefulness as well as in market value; PRECIOUS applies to what is of great 
   or even incalculable value because scarce or irreplaceable; INVALUABLE and 
   PRICELESS imply such great worth as to make valuation nearly impossible, 
   but INVALUABLE now often means little more than very useful, PRICELESS 
   little more than amusingly odd or original SYN syn EXPENSIVE, DEAR, 
   VALUABLE, PRECIOUS, INVA