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:
As a director, his output included classic films like 1984's rock music mockumentary "This is Spinal Tap," fantasy gem "The Princess Bride" from 1987 and seminal coming-of-age movie "Stand By Me."
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
When you find one that is gracious enough to host you, it can feel like discovering a rare gem in a mine of homebodies and those siloed to their own friend groups or families.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
This 10,520 square-foot gem in Palm Beach County.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
She has seen “The American President” and “The Prestige” 150 times each, but I’ll always push to watch some hidden gem that’s been on our list for the past decade.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
The dealer looked at me, then at Mom, who returned his mildly suspicious glance with a look sharp enough to cut diamonds followed by a smile more brilliant that any gem.
From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman
We chose Shikoku because it is one of the world’s bike-touring gems, perfect for us slow-moving retirees.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
Let me conclude with a few gems from the experts I spoke to about life in your 70s.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 23, 2026
"Personally, I say use gems as they're bigger and more impactful, plus you can peel them off at the end of night and reuse them in the morning."
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
With commercial tourism, social media and vlogging much of today’s world feels overexposed and overexplained, with seemingly every destination photographed, every experience reviewed and all hidden gems channeled into content.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
Hazel was confident she could produce enough gems and gold to impress even the greediest robber.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
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
Now the grassy table-land would extend away for miles to our left, gemmed here and there with solitary trees, waving their branches mournfully in the wind, and looking like spectres in the mystic starlight.
From The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3, June, 1851 by Various
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
And so all the magnificence and beauty of the daily heavens, and the nightly gemming of the empty places with perpetually burning stars, are lost to them!
From Expositions of Holy Scripture Psalms by Alexander Maclaren
Bells of dew glittered upon the bushes rooted in the walls, and upon the ivy-grown pillars; and gemming the countless spiders' webs stretched from bough to bough, showed they were all unbroken.
From The Lancashire Witches A Romance of Pendle Forest by William Harrison Ainsworth
Lady Frances observed it, and smiling said,— "You are gemming my ornaments, setting them in crystal instead of gold."
From The Buccaneer A Tale by Mrs. S. C. Hall
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
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.
