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My new car cost an arm and a leg.

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The idiom uses body parts to exaggerate how high a price feels.
Updated On: Jul 21, 2026
  • Negligible
  • Exorbitant
  • Reasonable
  • Cheap
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The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Picture what the idiom literally describes: giving up an arm and a leg to pay for something. No real purchase costs a body part, so this phrase is a dramatic way of saying the price is unusually and unfairly high.

Now compare that sense with each option. "Negligible" describes something so small it barely matters, which is the reverse of what the idiom means. "Reasonable" describes a fair price, but the whole point of this idiom is that the price does not feel fair at all. "Cheap" also describes a low cost, again the opposite of the idea behind the phrase. Only "exorbitant" describes a price that is unfairly or unusually high, matching the exaggerated image of paying with an arm and a leg.

Applied to the sentence, the speaker is complaining that the new car cost far more than expected, which is exactly what "exorbitant" conveys.

So "cost an arm and a leg" means the price was exorbitant, and option (b) is the correct answer.

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