| / English Dictionary |
LUXURY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Something that is an indulgence rather than a necessity
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("luxury" is a kind of...):
indulgence; self-indulgence (an inability to resist the gratification of whims and desires)
Derivation:
luxuriate (become extravagant; indulge (oneself) luxuriously)
luxurious (ostentatiously rich and superior in quality)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The quality possessed by something that is excessively expensive
Synonyms:
lavishness; luxury; sumptuosity; sumptuousness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("luxury" is a kind of...):
expensiveness (the quality of being high-priced)
Derivation:
luxuriate (become extravagant; indulge (oneself) luxuriously)
luxurious (ostentatiously rich and superior in quality)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Wealth as evidenced by sumptuous living
Synonyms:
luxuriousness; luxury; opulence; sumptuousness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("luxury" is a kind of...):
wealth; wealthiness (the state of being rich and affluent; having a plentiful supply of material goods and money)
Derivation:
luxuriate (enjoy to excess)
luxuriate (become extravagant; indulge (oneself) luxuriously)
luxurious (ostentatiously rich and superior in quality)
Context examples:
She was nice only from natural delicacy, but he had been brought up in a school of luxury and epicurism.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Walrus ivory was a valuable medieval commodity, used to carve luxury items such as ornate crucifixes or pieces for games like chess and Viking favourite hnefatafl.
(Over-hunting walruses contributed to the collapse of Norse Greenland, University of Cambridge)
The dining-parlour was a noble room, suitable in its dimensions to a much larger drawing-room than the one in common use, and fitted up in a style of luxury and expense which was almost lost on the unpractised eye of Catherine, who saw little more than its spaciousness and the number of their attendants.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
It was one of the many curious fashions which have now died out, that men who were blasé from luxury and high living seemed to find a fresh piquancy in life by descending to the lowest resorts, so that the night-houses and gambling-dens in Covent Garden or the Haymarket often gathered illustrious company under their smoke-blackened ceilings.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
In the whole extent of the house, which but for the old woman remained otherwise empty, Mr. Hyde had only used a couple of rooms; but these were furnished with luxury and good taste.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
I was at first at a great loss for salt, but custom soon reconciled me to the want of it; and I am confident that the frequent use of salt among us is an effect of luxury, and was first introduced only as a provocative to drink, except where it is necessary for preserving flesh in long voyages, or in places remote from great markets; for we observe no animal to be fond of it but man, and as to myself, when I left this country, it was a great while before I could endure the taste of it in anything that I ate.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
They reached town by three o'clock the third day, glad to be released, after such a journey, from the confinement of a carriage, and ready to enjoy all the luxury of a good fire.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Having laid out all these luxuries, my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid for and were ordered to this address.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Another sweet day for love and luxury will be January 23 when Venus in Pisces receives a friendly beam from Jupiter in Capricorn.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
Think what luxury— Plumfield my own, and a wilderness of boys to enjoy it with me.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
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