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cost

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verb [transitive] American English pronunciation: cost /kɔst/ 
Word Forms
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present tense
I/you/we/theycost
he/she/itcosts
present participlecosting
past tensecost
past participlecost
  1. 1
    if something costs an amount of money, that amount is needed in order to buy it, pay for it, or do it

    A new computer costs between $500 and $3,000.

    cost someone something:

    Unemployment costs the taxpayer billions each year.

    cost something per minute/hour/year etc.:

    Calls cost 36 cents per minute.

    cost something per person/head/adult etc.:

    Dinner cost $35 per person including wine.

    cost something to do something:

    How much does it cost to rent a bike?

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  costThesaurus entry for this meaning of cost
  2. 2
    to cause someone to lose something good or valuable

    The merger will cost jobs.

    cost someone something:

    His decision to take the car cost him his life.

    cost someone dearly (=cause a serious loss):

    We made two mistakes that cost us dearly.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  costThesaurus entry for this meaning of cost
  3. 3

    cost

     or

    cost out

    past tense costed
    past participle costed
    to calculate exactly how much something will cost

    All your proposals must be costed before we can consider them.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  costThesaurus entry for this meaning of cost

phrases

This is the American English definition of cost. View British English definition of cost.

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