Maintaining the aging telescope proved expensive, so the research institute allocated funds for a new, more efficient instrument.
维护这台老化的望远镜代价高昂，因此研究所拨款购置了一台更高效的新仪器。
- Before CRISPR, gene-editing techniques were far less precise and much more expensive.
From a Rhetorical Synthesis question · Expression of Ideas
Systems engineer Kofi Mensah notes that this pay-per-execution model can become significantly more expensive than traditional server hosting for applications with consistently high, predictable traffic, since traditional hosting benefits from fixed, bulk-rate pricing in those cases.
From a Cross-Text Connections question · Craft and Structure
Which choice best defines “expensive”?
D — Costing a lot of money. “expensive” means costing a lot of money.
Which word means “costing a lot of money”?
B — expensive. “expensive” means costing a lot of money.
expensive — costing a lot of money. In Chinese: 昂贵的.
expensive is pronounced /ɪkˈspɛnsɪv/.
Maintaining the aging telescope proved expensive, so the research institute allocated funds for a new, more efficient instrument. (维护这台老化的望远镜代价高昂，因此研究所拨款购置了一台更高效的新仪器。)
costly, pricey, dear — all close in meaning to expensive (costing a lot of money).
cheap, inexpensive — each the opposite of expensive (costing a lot of money).
Yes. expensive is on the SAT Prep Basic list — the everyday academic words the SAT assumes you already have. The Digital SAT does not test vocabulary in isolation; words like this one are tested through Words in Context questions, where you choose the word that completes a passage most logically and precisely.