Cost Definition
cost
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English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English cost, from Old English cost (“option, choice, possibility, manner, way, condition”), from Old Norse kostr (“choice, opportunity, chance, condition, state, quality”), from Proto-Germanic *kustiz, *kustuz (“choice, trial”), from Proto-Indo-European *geus- (“to enjoy, taste”). Cognate with German dialectal Kust (“taste, flavour”), Dutch kust (“choice, choosing”), North Frisian kest (“choice, estimation, virtue”), Old English cyst (“free-will, choice, election, the best of anything, the choicest, picked host, moral excellence, virtue, goodness, generosity, munificence”). Related to choose.
Noun
cost (plural costs)
- Manner; way; means; available course; contrivance.
- at all costs (= "by all means")
- Quality; condition; property; value; worth; a wont or habit; disposition; nature; kind; characteristic.
Derived terms
Related terms
Etymology 2
From Middle English cost, coust, from costen (“to cost”), see below.
Noun
Wikipedia has an article on: CostWikipedia cost (plural costs)
- Amount of money, time, etc. that is required or used.
- The total cost of the new complex was an estimated $1.5 million.
- We have to cut costs if we want to avoid bankrupcy.
- The average cost of a new house is twice as much as t was 20 years ago.
- A negative consequence or loss that occurs or is required to occur.
- There were many costs to the development project, the least of all was the financial aspect.
- If you train all the time, there will be a few costs such as a lack of free time.
Derived terms
Terms derived from the noun
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Translations
amount of money, time, etc.
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
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Etymology 3
From Middle English costen, from Old French coster, couster (“to cost”), from Medieval Latin costare, from Latin constare (“stand together, stand at, cost”), from com- + stare (“stand”).
Verb
cost (third-person singular simple present costs, present participle costing, simple past and past participle cost or costed) See Usage notes.
- To incur a charge, a price.
- This shirt cost $50, while this was cheaper at only $30.
- It will cost you a lot of money to take a round-the-world trip.
- Entry to the museums used to be free, but now it costs 5 pounds.
- To cause something to be lost.
- Trying to rescue the man from the frozen lake cost me my health.
- To calculate or estimate a value.
Usage notes
The past tense and past participle is cost in the sense of "this computer cost me £600", but costed in the sense of "the project was costed at $1 million."
Derived terms
Translations
to incur a charge, a price
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Statistics
Anagrams
Anglo-Norman
Noun
cost m. (oblique plural costs, nominative singular costs, nominative plural cost)
- cost; financial outlay
Related terms
Catalan
Noun
cost m. (plural costos)
Related terms
Manx
Noun
cost m. (genitive cost, plural costyn)
- charge (monetary)
Derived terms
Old English
Etymology
Proto-Germanic *kust-, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- (“to choose”). Akin to Old Saxon kostōn (“to try, tempt”), Old High German kostōn (“to taste, test, try by tasting”) (German kosten), Icelandic kosta (“to try, tempt”), Gothic 𐌺𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌿𐍃 (kustus, “test”), Old English cystan (“to spend, get the value of, procure”), Old English cyst (“proof, test, trial; choice”), ċēosan (“to choose”). More at choose.
Noun
cost m.
Adjective
cost
Welsh
Noun
cost m. and f. (plural costau)
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In production, research, retail, and accounting, a cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which case the amount of money expended to acquire it is counted as cost. In this case, money is the input that is gone in order to acquire the thing. This acquisition cost may be the sum of the cost of production as incurred by the original producer, and further costs of transaction as incurred by the acquirer over and above the price paid to the producer. Usually, the price also includes a mark-up for profit over the cost of production.