precious

[presh-uhs]

adjective

1. of high price or great value; very valuable or costly.

   precious metals.

2. highly esteemed for some spiritual, nonmaterial, or moral quality.

   precious memories.

3. dear; beloved.

   a precious child.

   Synonyms: darling

4. affectedly or excessively delicate, refined, or nice.

   precious manners.

5. flagrant; gross.

   a precious fool.

noun

1. a dearly beloved person; darling.

adverb

1. extremely; very.

   She wastes precious little time.

precious

/ ˈprɛʃəs /

adjective

1. beloved; dear; cherished

2. very costly or valuable

3. held in high esteem, esp in moral or spiritual matters

4. very fastidious or affected, as in speech, manners, etc

5. informal,  worthless

   you and your precious ideas!

adverb

1. informal,  (intensifier)

   there's precious little left

Other Word Forms

• preciously adverb
• preciousness noun
• nonprecious adjective
• nonpreciously adverb
• nonpreciousness noun
• unprecious adjective
• unpreciously adverb
• unpreciousness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of precious¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English preciose (from Old French precios ), from Latin pretiōsus “costly, valuable,” equivalent to preti(um) “price, value, worth” ( price ) + -ōsus -ous

Word History and Origins

Origin of precious¹

C13: from Old French precios, from Latin pretiōsus valuable, from pretium price, value

Synonym Study

See valuable.

Example Sentences

Battalion Metals, which offers coins, bars and support for precious metals IRAs, is a passion project that Carlson said he hatched shortly after his acrimonious exit from Fox in 2023.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"This money was so precious to me," she said.

Read more on BBC

The drumbeat of acquisitions underscores both how precious private-market data has become, and how limited the information still is.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Their findings, published in the open-access journal ACS Central Science, clarify why precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum excel in catalytic processes.

Read more on Science Daily

The tardigrade’s secret, we learn, lies in its ability “to live without that most precious resource of life”: In times of trial or scarcity, they self-dessicate, losing 98% of their bodies’ water.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal