Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of high cost or worth; valuable.
- adjective Highly esteemed; cherished.
- adjective Dear; beloved.
- adjective Affectedly dainty or overrefined.
- adjective Informal Thoroughgoing; unmitigated.
- noun One who is dear or beloved; a darling.
- adverb Used as an intensive.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Very; exceedingly; extremely.
- Of great price; costly; having a high money-value.
- Of great worth; held in high esteem; intrinsically valuable.
- Worthless; good-for-nothing.
- Considerable; great.
- Particular; scrupulous; fastidious; over-nice.
- Synonyms and Costly, etc. See
valuable . - Affectedly fastidious, especially in the use of words; finically refined in one's literary style or artistic taste.
- Characterized by a strained or affected refinement of style, in literature or art; affectedly fine.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of great price; costly.
- adjective Of great value or worth; very valuable; highly esteemed; dear; beloved.
- adjective Particular; fastidious; overnice; overrefined. Cf.
Précieuse ,Preciosity . - adjective the uncommon and highly valuable metals, esp. gold and silver.
- adjective gems; jewels.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Of high
value orworth , or seemingly regarded as such. - adjective Regarded with
love ortenderness . - adjective pejorative Treated with too much
reverence . - adjective pejorative Contrived to be cute or charming.
- noun Someone (or something) who is
loved ; adarling . - adverb Used as an
intensifier .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adverb extremely
- adjective characterized by feeling or showing fond affection for
- adjective held in great esteem for admirable qualities especially of an intrinsic nature
- adjective of high worth or cost
- adjective obviously contrived to charm
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word precious.
Examples
-
"My precious, _precious_ child," she said, "_He_ is able to save to the
Holidays at Roselands Martha Finley 1868
-
I know what they mean, but this is a rare case where I would use the term "precious" as a term of praise.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph Charles Moore 2011
-
Husky and direct rather than what she calls "precious and demure," she's never been shy about invoking her home country one of her top early songs is called "Hockey Skates".
-
As for the future, Earle and Buckland hope to keep their company growing while staying true to what they call their precious recipe.
Organic Beauty: Laura Katzenberg Katzenberg, Laura 2008
-
We are very far from understanding all the secret resources of nature; but I do not think the spontaneous formation of the crystals, which we call precious stones, one of the most difficult phenomena to comprehend.
-
B.C.'s Auditor-General says the provincial government isn't doing enough to monitor and protect groundwater, which he calls a precious resource.
-
B.C.'s Auditor-General says the provincial government isn't doing enough to monitor and protect groundwater, which he calls a precious resource.
-
He is what we call a precious baby: His mother has had a hysterectomy.
unknown title 2009
-
I will leave my—shit, is that what you called my precious weapons and clothes?
Ecstasy in Darkness Gena Showalter 2010
-
I will leave my—shit, is that what you called my precious weapons and clothes?
Ecstasy in Darkness Gena Showalter 2010
jennarenn commented on the word precious
As a name, this wasn't so bad until Lord of the Rings. Poor girl.
February 12, 2007
dailyword commented on the word precious
Gollum used this word when referring to The Ring.
September 5, 2012