jewel
noun
a cut and polished precious stone; gem.
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jewel
1 American
[joo-uhl]
/ ˈdʒu əl /
noun
-
jewels
plural
-
a cut and polished precious stone; gem.
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a fashioned ornament for personal adornment, especially of a precious metal set with gems.
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a precious possession.
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a person or thing that is treasured, esteemed, or indispensable.
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a durable bearing used in fine timepieces and other delicate instruments, made of natural or synthetic precious stone or other very hard material.
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an ornamental boss of glass, sometimes cut with facets, in stained-glass work.
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something resembling a jewel in appearance, ornamental effect, or the like, as a star.
verb (used with object)
jeweled,
jeweling,
jewelled,
jewelling
Jewel
2
American
[joo-uhl]
/ ˈdʒu əl /
noun
jewel
British
/ ˈdʒuːəl /
noun
-
a precious or semiprecious stone; gem
-
a person or thing resembling a jewel in preciousness, brilliance, etc
-
a gemstone, often synthetically produced, used as a bearing in a watch
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a piece of jewellery
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an ornamental glass boss, sometimes faceted, used in stained glasswork
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the most valuable, esteemed, or successful person or thing of a number
who will be the jewel in the crown of English soccer?
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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jewel-likeadjective
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jewelledadjective
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jewellikeadjective
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unjeweledadjective
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unjewelledadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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
Explanation
A jewel is a valuable gem or stone, one that might be set in a ring or necklace. Your grandmother might keep her jewels locked in a safe, to protect them from thieves. You can see large, gorgeous jewels in museums and jewelry stores. The diamond in a diamond ring is a jewel, and the rubies in a pair of sparkly red earrings are also jewels. You can also use the word to mean "person as special as a jewel." The Old French root is jouel, which may stem from jocus, "sport or pastime" in Latin, and "that which causes joy" in Vulgar Latin.
Vocabulary lists containing jewel
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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:
Carmel has become a jewel box of a town, with a main street, Ocean Avenue, that runs right down to the beach and sea.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
Guy Schooling, chairman of Sworders, described the Faith guitar as the "jewel in the crown" of the collection.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
The kitchen is surely the crown jewel of the home thanks to its blue cabinets and state-of-the-art appliances.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
The crown jewel of the portfolio was a stake in Anthropic, where Aschenbrenner briefly considered trying to get a job after he left OpenAI.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
From above, it resembled some fabulous dusky jewel, fallen between a green mantle of light silk and dark velvet.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
When a bat tested positive for rabies in Jewel Cave National Monument in South Dakota on July 29, officials released a statement about two weeks later.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
When it is not being used, it is kept in the Jewel House at the Tower of London.
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2026
Crissa Jewel says Zhu’s videos got her back on track to becoming Chinese.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 24, 2026
A family-friendly mix of artists included Elmo and Christopher Jackson, Shaggy and Busta Rhymes, Foreigner and Debbie Gibson, Jewel and Cynthia Erivo, the voices behind the hit animated series K-Pop Demon Hunters.
From Salon ● Nov. 27, 2025
I’d put in the seventy-five dollars I had managed to save while working at Becker’s Jewel Box.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
But while suspects may be arrested, jewels or precious metals might not be found - such as with the Louvre case.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
The four suspected Louvre robbers have been arrested, but the jewels they are accused of grabbing in the seven-minute heist have still not been found.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
Faux jewels, sequins and shiny baubles were Parton’s signature once she became a household name.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
“This time, Zaslav’s going to walk away with a billion-dollar parachute and Paramount may end up with these crown jewels assets when it comes to movie-making and television programming,” Proaño said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
Vendors from all over the city had come offering pottery, and jewels, and food from their shops.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
Why would you want to eat jeweled rice?
From Slate ● Aug. 15, 2026
A stunning jeweled dagger hilt and scabbard from Jahangir’s reign incorporate more than 2,000 diamonds, rubies and emeralds set in an intricate pattern in gold.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
Buddz went for a grouping of jeweled brooches.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 4, 2024
Iranian-style jewelry studded with jade and other precious stones were popular during the Ottoman period, and Joyce may have applied his newfound skills to crafting rings, earrings, necklaces, and intricate jeweled turban aigrettes.
From National Geographic ● Jan. 11, 2024
The forest was drenched in jeweled hues: the cerulean waters of Peace, the gilded light of Pleasure, the emerald luster of Progress, the crimson blaze of Pain.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
And at night, when the ticky-tacky disappears and the jeweling lights go on, the happy, hoppy daydream becomes a garden of visual delight.
From Time Magazine Archive
She will miss this glorious light warming the inside of her skin and jeweling the trees, the grass, the lily pond beyond the hedge.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
Evidently the blossoms had just been gathered, for the raindrops of the previous night still sparkled among their petals, jeweling with brilliancy their kaleidoscopic riot of color.
From The Wall Between by Sara Ware Bassett
There is no jeweling in the escapement or on the other end of the balance staff.
From The Auburndale Watch Company First American Attempt Toward the Dollar Watch by Edwin A. Battison
For by their necessity the gods were compelled to invent the arts of metal-working, weaving, carpentry, jeweling and many other useful appliances for the human race.
From Japanese Fairy World Stories from the Wonder-Lore of Japan by Ozawa
"I wanted to see whether, when you strip away the usual Chanel signatures - the tweed, the jewelled buttons - you can still get to that essence," he told WWD.
From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2026
In a vast, dimly lit main hall spanning four levels, visitors gazed at chariots, household items, jewelled ornaments and, at the centre, Tutankhamun's iconic golden mask.
From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2025
Annie did an interview on her "charity work" with the Aberdeen Evening News, turning up at a hotel in Portree in a striking crimson dressing gown and fingers adorned with jewelled rings.
From BBC ● May 22, 2025
Both men remain in Macau prison, a far cry from the jewelled opulence of the VIP parlours they once presided over.
From Reuters ● Sep. 19, 2022
Her fingers, fair and slender, were laden with jewelled rings, any one of which would have fed us for a year.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
The ice glistened on the naked trees, encasing and jewelling them.
From Senator North by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
She paused a moment, looking up at the wooded hill-top, which the sun was jewelling in silver.
From Other Things Being Equal by Emma Wolf
From where he sat he could see the trembling lights of the village jewelling the rim of the bay like a circlet of stars.
From Flood Tide by Sara Ware Bassett
So we stroll and look at the shops, at the filigree gold jewelling of the peasants, at a good bookshop.
From Sea and Sardinia by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
Her light had not yet reached the harbor, the further side of which was shadowy and suggestive, with dim coves and rich glooms and jewelling lights.
From Anne's House of Dreams by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery
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.
