precious
Americanadjective
-
of high price or great value; very valuable or costly.
precious metals.
-
highly esteemed for some spiritual, nonmaterial, or moral quality.
precious memories.
-
dear; beloved.
a precious child.
- Synonyms:
- darling
-
affectedly or excessively delicate, refined, or nice.
precious manners.
-
flagrant; gross.
a precious fool.
noun
adverb
adjective
-
beloved; dear; cherished
-
very costly or valuable
-
held in high esteem, esp in moral or spiritual matters
-
very fastidious or affected, as in speech, manners, etc
-
informal worthless
you and your precious ideas!
adverb
Related Words
See valuable.
Other Word Forms
- nonprecious adjective
- nonpreciously adverb
- nonpreciousness noun
- preciously adverb
- preciousness noun
- unprecious adjective
- unpreciously adverb
- unpreciousness noun
Etymology
Origin of precious
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
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Then, tiny mic in hand, you must reveal something much more personal and far more precious: “Which of your fellow cast members would you want to have with you on a deserted island?”
From Salon
But precious metals are in the headlines now, he added, and there are possible “tectonic” shifts afoot.
From MarketWatch
Silver has also surged as investors look for stores of value in precious metals.
From Barron's
On top of that, the geopolitical risks that helped drive precious metals higher earlier this week haven’t gone away—they could come back just as quickly.
From Barron's
On top of that, the geopolitical risks that helped drive precious metals higher earlier this week haven’t gone away—they could come back just as quickly.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
