Meaning of at a premium | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Above par value.
2. At a high, or higher than expected, price.
3. Scarce, in short supply.

Examples

“Disk space on that server is at a premium.”

“So many people were doing up their apartments that supplies of high-grade fixtures and fittings were at a premium. There were waiting lists for baths, doorknobs, imported hardwoods, antiqued fireplaces, bidets, marble slabs.”

“Flair and invention were very much at a premium, suffocated by the relentless pace and often fractious nature of proceedings. The absence of James Morrison from the centre of Scotland’s midfield, the West Brom man ruled out on the morning of the game by illness, had already diminished the creative capacity of the home side in that department.”

“Both Ameobi and Sunderland forward⟳ Darren Bent had gone close⟳ in the early exchanges but chances were at a premium thereafter.”

CEFR level