I'm not a native speaker of English. I'm trying to teach English learners positive and negative words.
I found this word in students' textbook, which only gives me the choice between positive and negative. I doubt the correctness of the textbook. Is the word 'expensive' negative or neutral?
It really depends on the context, and because of that, I think you would be best to say neutral. For example, here are three cases:
Positive: My friend brought an expensive wine to the party for us to try.
Neutral: The electric dryer was more expensive than the gas.
Negative: I was shocked by how expensive hotel rooms were because of the convention.
I would say that in general most English speakers would say something being "expensive" is a bad thing, but actual usage is rarely that simple. Ultimately, the connotation depends on who is paying the "expensive" price.
The literal meaning of expensive is that it costs a lot of money. It depends on your view if that is a negative or a neutral thing. It also depends on the reason why something is expensive. It is quite a philosophical question, I think.
In fact, it could be both. If you use the sentence
That toy was way too expensive!
the connotation is negative.
If you use the sentence
The blue boat is more expensive than the red one
it's not. So the answer depends on the sentence.
