preciosity
fastidious or carefully affected refinement, as in language, style, or taste.
Origin of preciosity
1Words Nearby preciosity
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use preciosity in a sentence
But what exasperated Punch most of all was the decadent preciosity of the irregulars who espoused the cause of the New Womanhood.
Mr. Punch's History of Modern England Vol. IV of IV. | Charles L. GravesHis dramatic works, though effective on the stage, are disfigured by extravagant incidents and preciosity of diction.
Lockhart hated all affectation and “preciosity,” of which the new book was not destitute.
Alfred Tennyson | Andrew LangIt is only that, in seeking to compensate himself for his infecundity, he has fallen into the deep sea of preciosity.
Musical Portraits | Paul Rosenfeldpreciosity and artificiality reach their height in Arnaut's poems, which are, for that reason, excessively difficult.
The Troubadours | H.J. Chaytor
British Dictionary definitions for preciosity
/ (ˌprɛʃɪˈɒsɪtɪ) /
fastidiousness or affectation, esp in speech or manners
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
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