luxury - luxurious

◊ 'luxury'

Luxury is great comfort among beautiful and expensive surroundings.

We lived in great luxury.

...a life of luxury.

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Luxury is often used as an adjective in front of a noun. You use it to talk about a class of comfortable, expensive things, or to identify something as belonging to such a class.

The Government eliminated rent controls on luxury apartments.

...a luxury car for the President.

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Note that although you can talk about `luxury goods', you do not talk about `luxury things'. Instead you say luxuries.

We are not able to afford luxuries.

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◊ 'luxurious'

You use luxurious to describe something as being comfortable and expensive, without identifying it as belonging to a particular class. You can use words like `very' and `more' in front of luxurious.

He let himself fall into the most luxurious of the armchairs.

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