Is "dear" commonly used to describe something that costs too much? [closed]

Can the word dear replace expensive, as in "That new T.V is too dear"? The dictionary says so, but I was completely unaware that it had that connotation. I want to use it in writing because it's a shorter, simpler sounding word with a regular comparative/superlative, dearer and dearest, but it doesn't sound idiomatic at all. No one round these parts would say that.

Does anybody else in the English-speaking world say this? I tried searching a corpus but all results came back with dear used as a term of endearment.

Solution 1:

"Dear" is perfectly correct in the sense you propose. It is commonly heard in the United Kingdom, very much less so in the parts of the U.S. with which I am familiar. The choice for you, then, becomes one of register. In other words, depending on your purpose in writing, you may wish either to avoid a locution with which your audience is not familiar or to use such a locution to give an air of "foreignness" to your text.

Solution 2:

Dear is not unusual (UK) although it can sometimes sound quaint and old-fashioned. I probably use it less often than 'expensive' (60/40).

Solution 3:

Its usage to indicate something expensive is quite old as shown from its etymology:

Dear (adj.):

• Old English deore "precious, valuable, costly, loved, beloved," from Proto-Germanic *deurjaz (cognates: Old Saxon diuri, Old Norse dyrr, Old Frisian diore, Middle Dutch dure, Dutch duur, Old High German tiuri, German teuer), ultimate origin unknown. (Etymonline)

Usage note:

• Expensive / dear / costly

• These adjectives are all synonyms though they are used in slightly different ways and in different collocations. It is also the case that dear as an adjective has two meanings, it means both expensive and well-liked, as well as featuring in expressions such as Oh dear! or in letters as in Dear Sir. The problem with costly may be that it looks like an adverb as it ends in -ly. This is confusing as most adverbs end in -ly, but costly is an exception and is an adjectiveote.

Dearly:

• 1) very much:

  • She loves him dearly.
  • I would dearly like/love to know what he was thinking
  • dearly beloved (= used by a minister at a Christian church service to address people)

• 2) in a way that causes a lot of suffering or damage, or that costs a lot of money

  • Success has cost him dearly.
  • She paid dearly for her mistake.

(www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com)

Solution 4:

It has become something of an anachronism. It does mean exactly what the OP thinks of it though..."the cost of responding to the lawsuit was too dear, considering the possible outcomes."