Extravagance Meaning
/ɪkˈstɹævəɡən(t)s/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounExcessive or superfluous expenditure of money.
nounProdigality, as of anger, love, expression, imagination, or demands.
Sentence Examples
Such extravagance is beyond my reach.
His extravagance is out of proportion to his wage.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Buying a yacht with gold rails was pure ____ for the millionaire.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The billionaire's ____ was well-known, as he often threw parties that cost millions of dollars.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from French extravagance, from Medieval Latin extra + vagor (“to wander”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The visions of romance were over. Catherine was completely awakened. Henry’s address, short as it had been, had more thoroughly opened her eyes to the extravagance of her late fancies than all their several disappointments had done."
— 1803, Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey:
"A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire. In fact, that arm-chair had been an extravagance of Mrs. Bunting. She had wanted her husband to be comfortable after the day's work was done, and she had paid thirty-seven shillings for the chair."
— 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016:
"At the same time he will need most carefully to avoid anything resembling extravagance or overstatement. While no socialist heorist has ever been known to discredit himself with his fellows even by the silliest of proposals, the old-fashioned liberal will damn himself by an impracticable suggestion."
— 1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of Chicago, →DOI, page 430:
"There were no limos or extravagances at this point, because we all wanted to make as much money as possible. We played it cheap. No huge catering bills, no wild parties, not even upgraded hotel rooms. Whenever we arrived at an airport Robin would be there to meet us in a rented SUV or big sedan, and we'd head to the gig on our own."
— 2010, Jeff Dunham, All By My Selves: Walter, Peanut, Achmed, and Me:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Buying a yacht with gold rails was pure ____ for the millionaire.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The billionaire's ____ was well-known, as he often threw parties that cost millions of dollars.