luxury - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Due to their high market price, most gemstones, such as diamonds, for example, are widely associated with luxury

From Middle English luxurie, from Old French luxurie, from Latin luxuria (“rankness, luxury”), from luxus (“extravagance, luxury”).

luxury (countable and uncountable, plural luxuries)

  1. Very wealthy and comfortable surroundings; the state of being that they create.
    Synonyms: luxuriousness, luxe
    Antonyms: austerity, spartanness, penury, poverty
    Near-synonyms: splendor, grandeur, grandness, decadence
  2. Something desirable but expensive and that one can live without.
    Antonyms: necessity, essential, essentials, basics
    • 1910, Emerson Hough, “A Lady in Company”, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      “ […] We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic? […] ”
    • 2020 December 15, Marianna Cerini, “Holiday gift guide: Ethical luxuries for conscientious shoppers”, in CNN‎[1]:
      And with Millennial and Gen Z consumers accounting for a growing proportion of spending, the luxury market is increasingly sensitive to the social and environmental causes they identify with. […] With all this in mind, here are CNN Style’s best small luxuries for the conscientious gift giver: […]
  3. Something that is pleasant and desirable but not necessary in life (whether expensive or not).
    Antonyms: necessity, essential, essentials, basics
    • 1980 March 3, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “Official Secrets (Yes, Prime Minister)”, in Yes, Prime Minister, season 2, episode 2, spoken by Humphrey Appleby and Bernard Woolley (Nigel Hawthorne and Derek Fowlds):
      Sir Humphrey Appleby: Bernard, what do you want? / Bernard Woolley: I want to have a clear conscience. / […] / Sir Humphrey Appleby: When did you acquire this taste for luxuries (laugh track)?
    • 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68:
      As the 1857 to Manchester Piccadilly rolls in, I scan the windows and realise there are plenty of spare seats, so I hop aboard. The train is a '221'+'220' combo to allow for social distancing - a luxury on an XC train as normally you're playing sardines, so I make the most of it.
  4. (obsolete) Lustfulness; sexual desire or attraction.
  5. (obsolete) Copulation; the act or action of sex.

very wealthy and comfortable surroundings

something desirable but expensive

something pleasant but not necessary in life

luxury (comparative more luxury, superlative most luxury)

  1. Very expensive.
    Synonym: luxurious
  2. Not essential but desirable and enjoyable and indulgent.
  3. (automotive) Pertaining to the top-end market segment for mass production mass market vehicles, above the premium market segment.

(automotive):

indulgent

luxury

  1. alternative form of luxurie