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COST BILL CHARGE FEE PRICE

COST (Noun [C])

A) The amount of money that you have to pay in order to buy, do, or produce something.Collocations

Pay the cost of sth

Meet/bear the cost (of sth.) =pay for sth.

Cover the cost (of sth.) = pay all of sth

The cost of doing sth

At a cost of $100/$ 20

Full-total/ high-low/ extra-additional cost

Running/operating costs = what it costs to organize an event or run a business

Labour-transport-legal cost

B) COSTS (pl)1 the money that you must regularly spend in order to run a business, a home, a car etc

Reduce/cut sosts

We have to cut costs in order to remain competitive

2 court costs the money that you must pay to lawyers etc if you are involved in a legal case in

court, especially if you are found guilty

Bellisario won the case and was awarded costs

C) [U/C] something that you lose, give away, damage etc in order to achieve somethingAt a cost of sth

She had kept her promise to Christine, but at what cost to herself?

Social/environmental cost

We must avoid a scandal at all costs (=whatever happens).

D) (Sgl) Am E the price that someone pays for something that they are going to sell [= costprice]

At cost

His uncle's a car dealer and let him buy the car at cost (=without making a profit).

E) Know/ find out/ learn sth to your cost to realize something is true because you have hada very unpleasant experience

Driving fast in wet conditions is dangerous, as my brother discovered to his cost!

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BILL (N [C])

1 Request for payment: a written list showing how much you have to pay for services you

have received, work that has been done etc

Bill for

The bill for the repairs came to $650

Phone/electricity/gas etc bill

2 Restaurant (Br E): a list showing how much you have to pay for food you have eaten in a

restaurant [= check Am E]

Could we have the bill, please?

3 Law: a written proposal for a new law, which is brought to a parliament so that it can be

discussed

Approve/pass/ veto a bill

The House of Representatives passed a new gun-control bill.

4 Money (Am E) a piece of paper money [= note BrE- coin]

A five-dollar bill

Other meanings

5 fit/fill the bill: To be exactly what you need

This car fits the bill perfectly. It's cheap and gets good mileage.

6 Concert/show etc : a programme of entertainment at a theatre, concert, cinema etc,

with details of who is performing, what is being shown etc

Tricia topped the bill (=was the most important performer) at the Children's Variety Show.

7 Give somebody/something a clean bill of health: to officially state that someone is in

good health or that something is working correctly

Maddox was given a clean bill of health

8 Advertisment: a printed notice advertising an event

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CHARGE (N)

Price [C/U] the amount of money you have to pay for goods or services

Charge of

an admission charge of $5

Charge for

There's a 50 pence booking charge for each ticket

Also:

Guided tours are provided at no charge.

Your order will be sent free of charge (=at no cost).

The shop will fit them for a small extra charge

Other meanings

1 Control [U] the position of having control or responsibility for a group of people or an

activity

In charge of sth

He asked to speak to the person in charge

2 Crime [C] an official statement made by the police saying that they believe someone

may be guilty of a crime

Charge against

Charge of

FEE (N) [C]

An amount of money that you pay to do something or that you pay to a professional

person for their work

Cable TV subscribers pay monthly fees.

Entrance/ entry fee = fee to enter a place

The run, to raise money for breast cancer, has a 10 entry fee (=fee to enter a

competition).

Doctors/ lawyers/ accounts fee

Legal/medical fee

My solicitor charges a flat fee (=an amount that does not change) for handling the

sale of a house.

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PRICE (N) [C/U]

The amount of money you have to pay for something

Collocations

High/low [pice

Prices go up/rise/increase/drop/go down/fall

Prices fluctuate =prices go up and down

Put up/ increase/raise prices

Cut/ lower slash prices= make them lower

Agree on (a ) price/ fix a price

Price freeze = when prices are kept at the same level

Price war = when shops try to get the lowest prices

Price for

We agreed on a price for the bike.

Price of

The price of fuel keeps going up.

Other meanings

1 (Sgl) the unpleasant things that you must suffer in order to be successful, free etc

Price of

He's never at home, but that's the price of success.

2 half/full price used to talk about half the usual price of something, or the actual usual

price

I bought these jeans at half price in the sale.

3 At a price For a lot of money

You can get goat's cheese at the local delicatessen - at a price!

4 At any price= whatever the cost or difficulty may be

She was determined to have a child at any price.

5 put a price on sth= to give sth a financial value

You can't put a price on what a mother does for her children

6 be beyond price= to be extremely valuable or important

7 everyone has their price= used to say that you can persuade people to do anything if

you give them what they want

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Compare

cost, costs, price, charge, fee, fare

We Use cost to talk about paying for services and activities, rather than objects

The total cost of the trip was under $500.

Your costs are the amount of money you have to spend in order to run a business or to do

a particular activity

The shop was not making enough money to cover its costs.

Use price to mean the amount of money that you must pay for something in a place such

as a shop or restaurant

We are cutting all our prices (NOT costs) by 50% for one day only!

A charge is the amount you have to pay to have a particular service or use something

For a small charge we will also make your hotel reservations.

A fee is the amount you have to pay to enter or join something

The gallery charges no entrance fee.

It is also the amount you have to pay for a professional service

The lawyer explained her fees.

A fare is the amount you have to pay to travel somewhere by bus, train, plane etc

I need some money for my bus fare.