Kostspieliger

Kostspieliger is the comparative form of the German adjective kostspielig, meaning costly or expensive. It denotes that something incurs higher costs relative to a reference point, and it can apply to monetary expenditure as well as other resources such as time, effort, or risk. The term is common in neutral and formal discourse and may carry a negative or cautionary tone when discussing trade-offs.

Grammatical usage: kostspieliger is formed by adding the comparative ending -er tokostspielig. It can be used attributively or predicatively. Examples: „ein kostspieliger Fehler“ (a costly mistake), „eine kostspieligere Alternative“ (a more expensive alternative). In predicative use: „Die Maßnahme ist kostspieliger geworden.“ The superlative form is kostspieligsten; the adjective follows standard declension rules with appropriate endings after articles: „der kostspieligere Preis“, „das kostspieligste Vorhaben“.

Semantics and collocations: Kostspielig describes costs that are high relative to alternatives. It is often used in economics, business planning, journalism, and policy debates. Common collocations include kostspielige Investition, kostspieliges Unterfangen, kostspielige Reparaturen. While primarily monetary, the term can also refer to non-monetary costs such as time or effort.

Etymology and related terms: kostspielig derives from Kosten (costs) with the suffix -spielig, indicating a property related to cost. Related terms include kostengünstig, teuer, kostenintensiv, and aufwendig; antonyms include kostengünstig, preiswert, billig. The word is relatively formal and is often chosen to emphasize the burden or economic impact of a decision.