exorbitant

adjective ex·or·bi·tant \ ig-ˈzȯr-bə-tənt \

|Updated on: 27 Jun 2018

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Examples: exorbitant in a Sentence

Editor's Note: How Was exorbitant First Used?

Definition of exorbitant

1 : not coming within the scope of the law

2 : exceeding the customary or appropriate limits in intensity, quality, amount, or size

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exorbitantly

adverb

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Examples of exorbitant in a Sentence

The citizens of Xiaoli Village move lazily, with a languor born of chronic underemployment. They are farmers by tradition, but exorbitant taxes have leached any profitability out of their profession. —Hannah Beech, Time, 27 Oct. 2003
As with the black truffle, foie gras is as exorbitant ($52 a pound) as it is decadent (one gram of foie gras can reportedly be 900 calories). —Heather Morgan, Traveler, April 2000
… I recommend that the Congress adopt … [a] continuation of the law for the renegotiation of war contracts—which will prevent exorbitant profits and assure fair prices to the Government. —Franklin D. Roosevelt 11 Jan. 1944, in Nothing to Fear by B. D. Zevin, 1946
They were charged exorbitant rates for phone calls.
the cost of our stay was so exorbitant you would have thought that we had bought the hotel and not just spent a few nights there

Recent Examples of exorbitant from the Web

Schutta said, comparing the exorbitant costs of insulin in the U.S. to lower prices in Canada and other foreign countries.

— ilene raymond rush, Philly.com, "High insulin costs have diabetes patients, doctors scrambling for answers," 20 June 2018
The township has posted on its Facebook page that solicitors' terms and conditions often include low introductory prices and purposely hide, in fine print, the often exorbitant price after the relatively short one- to three-month introductory term.

— nancy daly, Cincinnati.com, "Green Township warns about energy scammers," 8 June 2018
Europe currently has roughly 15.7GW of offshore wind creating electricity for its grids, and the result of all that investment has been a steady decline in previously exorbitant installation costs.

— megan geuss, Ars Technica, "America, your offshore wind is coming: 1.2GW in contracts awarded," 24 May 2018
Still, that didn’t stop LaVar from charging exorbitant ticket prices for games in 10,000-plus-seat arenas instead of high school gyms.

— andrew joseph, For The Win, "The ticket sales for LaVar Ball's JBA league have been comically abysmal," 4 June 2018
But these ideas have been widely criticized for their exorbitant cost — thought to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars a year — and the risks involved.

— david cox /, NBC News, "Can these bold plans keep the world's ice sheets from melting?," 28 May 2018
Yet only so much financial burden can be carried by football and men’s basketball, sports with earning potential but also exorbitant costs.

— mike anthony, courant.com, "Mike Anthony: CCSU Men's Golf Will Be Eliminated, But First There's A National Title To Play For," 1 May 2018
Among the findings: Hawaii ranks 18th in teacher pay, but sinks to the very bottom when accounting for its exorbitant cost of living.

— ana veciana-suarez, miamiherald, "You can't put a price on good teachers, but they still deserve better pay | Miami Herald," 30 Apr. 2018
This law is destroying business and the individual because of its exorbitant costs and unfunded entitlements.

— cynthia sewell, idahostatesman, "14 Idaho candidates on Trump, how they voted & his job performance today | Idaho Statesman," 24 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'exorbitant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

How Was exorbitant First Used?

The first use of "exorbitant" in English was "wandering or deviating from the normal or ordinary course." That sense is now archaic, but it provides a hint as to the origins of "exorbitant": the word derives from Late Latin exorbitans, the present participle of the verb exorbitare, meaning "to deviate." "Exorbitare" in turn was formed by combining the prefix ex-, meaning "out of," with the noun orbita, meaning "track of a wheel or "rut." ("Orbita" itself traces back to "orbis," the Latin word for "disk" or "hoop.") In the 15th century "exorbitant" came to refer to something which fell outside of the normal or intended scope of the law. Eventually, it developed an extended sense as a synonym of "excessive."

Origin and Etymology of exorbitant

Middle English, from Late Latin exorbitant-, exorbitans, present participle of exorbitare to deviate, from Latin ex- + orbita track of a wheel, rut, from orbis disk, hoop

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

exorbitant Synonyms

Phrases

a bit much, over the top;

Synonym Discussion of exorbitant

excessive, immoderate, inordinate, extravagant, exorbitant, extreme mean going beyond a normal limit. excessive implies an amount or degree too great to be reasonable or acceptable.