luxuries

Noun

luxury (countable and uncountable, plural luxuries)

1. Very 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. Something 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

   Antonyms:

   necessity, essential, essentials, basics

3. Something 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...

   Antonyms:

   necessity, essential, essentials, basics

4. (obsolete) Lustfulness; 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]...
5. (obsolete) Copulation; 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...

See all 8 meanings of luxury