Exorbitans

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Subject to excessive or unreasonable demands or charges
2. characterized by prices or fees that are unreasonably high
3. relating to something that exceeds normal limits or is overly extravagant

Etymology: "Exorbitans" is the Latin present participle of "exorbitare," meaning "to go off the track" or "to deviate." It combines "ex-," "out of," with "orbita," a wheel track or rut, which came from "orbis," circle. A carriage that left its rut was literally off course, and Latin writers soon applied the image to anything that strayed beyond its proper bounds. English borrowed the adjective "exorbitant" from this Latin base, and the modern sense, meaning excessive in price or demand, grew out of that idea of going beyond the usual limit. The word is a learned borrowing rather than something that developed through everyday speech, so its path into English ran through scholarly and legal writing before reaching general use.

Synonyms: exorbitant, excessive, outrageous, extravagant, unreasonable

Antonyms: reasonable, moderate, affordable, inexpensive, fair