luxury

plural luxuries

1. countableuncountableVery wealthy and comfortable surroundings; the state of being that they create.

   Near-synonyms: splendor, grandeur, grandness, decadence

   Synonyms: luxuriousness, luxe, splendor, grandeur, grandness, decadence · Antonyms: austerity, spartanness, penury, poverty

2. countableuncountableSomething desirable but expensive and that one can live without.

   “[…] 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? […]”

   1910, Emerson Hough, “A Lady in Company”, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   1 more example

   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: […]

   2020 December 15, Marianna Cerini, “Holiday gift guide: Ethical luxuries for conscientious shoppers”, in CNN

   Antonyms: necessity, essential, essentials, basics

3. countableuncountableSomething that is pleasant and desirable but not necessary in life (whether expensive or not).

   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)?

   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)

   1 more example

   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.

   2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68

   Antonyms: necessity, essential, essentials, basics

4. countableobsoleteuncountableLustfulness; sexual desire or attraction.

   Fie on sinnefull phantasie: Fie on Lust, and Luxurie:

   c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], page 51, column 2

5. countableobsoleteuncountableCopulation; the act or action of sex.

   Let not the Royall Bed of Denmark be / A Couch for Luxury and damned Incest.

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 258, column 1

comparative more luxury · superlative most luxury

1. Very expensive.

   Synonyms: luxurious

2. Not essential but desirable and enjoyable and indulgent.
3. automotivePertaining to the top-end market segment for mass production mass market vehicles, above the premium market segment.