preciosity

[ presh-ee-os-i-tee ]

noun,plural pre·ci·os·i·ties.
  1. fastidious or carefully affected refinement, as in language, style, or taste.

Origin of preciosity

1
1350–1400; Middle English preciousite<Middle French preciosite<Latin pretiōsitās.See precious, -ity

Words 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.

  • His 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 Lang
  • It is only that, in seeking to compensate himself for his infecundity, he has fallen into the deep sea of preciosity.

    Musical Portraits | Paul Rosenfeld
  • preciosity 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

preciosity

/ (ˌprɛʃɪˈɒsɪtɪ) /


nounplural -ties
  1. 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