Exhorbitant

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Characterized by prices or demands that are significantly higher than what is considered reasonable or acceptable in a given context
2. Referring to costs or requirements that are excessively inflated and often beyond what is justifiable or fair
3. Marked by prices or fees that far exceed what is typical or justified

Etymology: The word itself is a close relative of "orbit", and its literal sense was a wheel leaving its track. Latin "exorbitare" combined "ex" ("out") with "orbita", a wheel-track, so to go exorbitant was to leave the rut. Medieval Latin then gave us the present participle "exorbitans", which passed into Old French as "exorbitant" and from there into Middle English. The earliest English sense was plainly literal and abstract: going beyond the proper limits or bounds of something. The leap to prices came later, as the metaphor of straying beyond a boundary was applied to demands and charges that overshoot what is reasonable. The spelling most people stumble over, with an "h" after the "r", is a misspelling of the standard form. The "h" sneaks in because of the word's shape, but the orbit connection is the clue to its meaning.

Synonyms: exorbitant, excessive

Antonyms: reasonable, moderate