gem
Americannoun
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gems
plural
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a cut and polished precious stone or pearl fine enough for use in jewelry.
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something likened to or prized as such a stone because of its beauty or worth.
His painting was the gem of the collection.
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a person held in great esteem or affection.
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British Printing. a 4-point type of a size between brilliant and diamond.
verb (used with object)
adjective
noun
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a precious or semiprecious stone used in jewellery as a decoration; jewel
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a person or thing held to be a perfect example; treasure
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a size of printer's type, approximately equal to 4 point
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a type of small sweet cake
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of gem
1275–1325; Middle English gemme < Old French < Latin gemma bud, jewel; replacing Middle English yimme, Old English gim ( m ) < Latin
Explanation
A gem is a precious or semi-precious stone, or a jewel. A silversmith might experiment with adding gems to her rings and necklaces. The sparkly gem in your grandmother's fancy ring might be a diamond, while your aunt appears to prefer the polished greenish-blue gems called turquoise. If you're trained to identify and put a value on gems, you can call yourself a gemologist. Gem is from the Old French gemme, which has a Latin root, gemma, "precious stone or jewel."
Vocabulary lists containing gem
In A Sedimental Mood: Rock and Gem Vocabulary
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Essential Three-Letter Words, Part 2
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for January 27–February 2, 2024
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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.
See Examples For:
Boasting breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean, this gem is located on a triangular 0.4-acre oceanfront lot.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
He finished his regular season with a gem against the Giants last week: seven three-hit innings on just 75 pitches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
"That hidden gem kind of thing almost does not exist any more in football," says Kjaer.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
This 10,520 square-foot gem in Palm Beach County.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
He looked at the children the way another looks at some rare painting or treasured gem.
From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin
People across the UK have been invited to nominate their local red phone box libraries for the books to help the campaign's organisers "uncover more hidden gems".
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
Hunting hidden gems - is there anywhere in the world left to scout?
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
Some are complete B.S. and some get repeated over and over, but you can find some gems you might not have considered.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
She transforms a rainbow of blossoms into hair adornments, earrings, necklace pendants and rings, treating her homegrown organic materials like precious gems.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Dye my skin magenta and implant gems in it?
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
A search for “Barbie” on the company’s website returns rose-gold jewelry and pink gemmed rings.
From Reuters ● Jul. 23, 2023
Moreover, the first images of crosses portray them more as slender, gemmed staffs than as sturdy instruments of execution.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 14, 2017
The passing rivers, the sounds rising from street gratings, the gemmed bridges were recognizable in name, but transposed to a different key.
From New York Times ● Apr. 24, 2014
Depicted in his role as minister of justice, he wears an impressively gemmed and starchy crown, but the face below it looks miserable.
From New York Times ● Mar. 25, 2010
The sea was glimmering with a phosphorescent light, and the waves that broke upon the shore were gemmed with globules of living fire, which melted away almost imperceptibly into rosy shades.
From The Cricket's Friends Tales Told by the Cricket, Teapot, and Saucepan by Virginia W. Johnson
When I woke I saw Mulvaney, the night-dew gemming his mustache, leaning on his rifle at picket, lonely as Prometheus on his rock, with I know not what vultures tearing his liver.
From International Short Stories English by Various
Its little yellow stars may now be seen gemming the woodsides, when all around is cold, comfortless, and dead.
From Mirror of the Months by Peter George Patmore
Like some palpable, suffocating substance it filled the plain and mounted far up into the air, even to the blue-black sky, whence a million gemming stars pierced it with their diamond lances.
From With Hoops of Steel by Dan Smith
In the green stillness of the deep woods, birds singing and shy delicate blossoms gemming the moss, the fierce and savage past was like a dream.
From Masters of the Guild by L. Lamprey
CORNFLOWERS, you say, just cornflowers, gemming the golden grain; Ah no!
From Rhymes of a Red Cross Man by Robert W. (Robert William) Service
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.
