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Synonyms

jewel

1 American  
[joo-uhl] / ˈdʒu əl /

noun

  1. a cut and polished precious stone; gem.

  2. a fashioned ornament for personal adornment, especially of a precious metal set with gems.

  3. a precious possession.

  4. a person or thing that is treasured, esteemed, or indispensable.

  5. a durable bearing used in fine timepieces and other delicate instruments, made of natural or synthetic precious stone or other very hard material.

  6. an ornamental boss of glass, sometimes cut with facets, in stained-glass work.

  7. something resembling a jewel in appearance, ornamental effect, or the like, as a star.

verb (used with object)

jeweled, jeweling, jewelled, jewelling

  1. to set or adorn with jewels.

Jewel 2 American  
[joo-uhl] / ˈdʒu əl /

noun

  1. a female given name.

jewel British  
/ ˈdʒuːəl /

noun

  1. a precious or semiprecious stone; gem

  2. a person or thing resembling a jewel in preciousness, brilliance, etc

  3. a gemstone, often synthetically produced, used as a bearing in a watch

  4. a piece of jewellery

  5. an ornamental glass boss, sometimes faceted, used in stained glasswork

  6. the most valuable, esteemed, or successful person or thing of a number

    who will be the jewel in the crown of English soccer?
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. (tr) to fit or decorate with a jewel or jewels

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • jewel-like adjective
  • jewelled adjective
  • jewellike adjective
  • unjeweled adjective
  • unjewelled adjective

Etymology

Origin of jewel

1250–1300; Middle English jouel juel < Anglo-French jeul, Old French jouel, joel < Vulgar Latin *jocāle plaything, noun use of neuter of *jocālis (adj.) of play, equivalent to Latin joc ( us ) joke + -ālis -al 1

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.

In “The Story of Stories,” Mr. Ashton tells how the arrival of oranges in Western Australia disrupted the life cycle of a rare type of jewel bug.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026

Its crown jewel is SpaceX stock, acquired by selling spectrum to Elon Musk’s rocket company.

From Barron's • Mar. 23, 2026

Miley is still front and centre, however, and remains the academy's crown jewel.

From BBC • Mar. 3, 2026

Many in the food world know Gray for his tenure as executive chef at Momofuku Ko, David Chang’s crown jewel, for over a decade.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026

The last wispy cloud disappeared as the world of Alke emerged like a jewel beneath us.

From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia

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.