Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Language: Old French
Origin: luxurie, from Latin luxuria 'too great quantity'

luxury

 noun
     
lux‧u‧ry plural luxuries
1 [uncountable] very great comfort and pleasure, such as you get from expensive food, beautiful houses, cars etc
in luxury
She stole to keep her boyfriend in luxury.
He was leading a life of luxury in Australia.
luxury hotel/car/home etc (=expensive and large)
We stayed in a five-star luxury hotel.
The dress is lambswool - pure luxury.
2 [countable] something expensive that you do not need, but you buy for pleasure and enjoyment [≠ necessity]:
luxuries like chocolate and perfume
3

afford/have/enjoy the luxury of something

to have something that is very pleasant or convenient, that you are not always able to have:
For the first time in three years, they actually had the luxury of a whole day together.

➔ in the lap of luxury

at lap1 (5)
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary