costless
part of speech
adjective (costless) — formal, rare
meaning for a pupil
1) Costing no money; free. tree →
2) (formal) Done without any loss, harm or effort: «a costless mistake». tree →
sense in the lessons
A rare, slightly formal word, met in economics, maths and exam texts. In everyday speech people say «free» or «at no cost». It tells the reader that nothing has to be paid or lost. Phrases: «almost costless», «not costless».
examples
- Walking to school is costless and good for you. tree →
- Borrowing a book from the library is costless. tree →
- The mistake was costless because we noticed it in time. tree →
- Smiling at people is costless but makes them happy. tree →
- Nothing in life is completely costless. tree →
- The plan looked costless, but it took a lot of time. tree →
note
Made from «cost» + «-less» (without). It does not mean «priceless» (worth a huge amount) or «worthless» (worth nothing). In maths problems, a costless item adds 0 to the total cost.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «costless» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.