précieuse

American  

[prey-see-ooz, prey-syœz] / ˌpreɪ siˈʊz, preɪˈsyœz /

noun

précieuses plural

1. one of the 17th-century literary women of France who affected an extreme care in the use of language.

2. an affected or pretentious woman, especially one marked by preciosity in manner or speech.

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adjective

1. (of a woman) marked by affectation or preciosity.

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• précieuses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of précieuse

1720–30; < French; feminine of précieux ( def. ); see -euse

Example Sentences

As the précieuse did nothing according to common usage, she could not dine p. 50like another. 

From The Essays of "George Eliot" Complete by Sheppard, Nathan

She has been described as a "thinker and scientist, précieuse and pedant, but not the less a coquette—in short, a woman of contradictions."

From Woman in Science With an Introductory Chapter on Woman's Long Struggle for Things of the Mind by Zahm, John Augustine

There is an advance in character, an advance in "interior" description—the Vollichon family circle, the banter and the gambling at Lucrèce's home, the humour of a précieuse meeting, etc.

From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1 From the Beginning to 1800 by Saintsbury, George

But she, with many of her peers, was too rich in sarcastic common sense to be a précieuse ridicule.

From Classic French Course in English by Wilkinson, William Cleaver

It was "searched," a little précieuse, and the tales themselves were diaphanous enough, polished little contes, the points subtle, the action turning upon minute psychological distinctions.

From The Spinner's Book of Fiction by Various