preciosity

[presh-ee-os-i-tee]

noun

plural

preciosities 

1. fastidious or carefully affected refinement, as in language, style, or taste.

preciosity

/ ˌprɛʃɪˈɒsɪtɪ /

noun

1. fastidiousness or affectation, esp in speech or manners

Word History and Origins

Origin of preciosity¹

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

Example Sentences

Nudity and fashion become virtual emblems here, signaling the purity, fragility and preciosity of the subject.

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Since 2016, after a brief retirement from moviemaking, he has found a new auteurist groove with modest resources, fast shoots, boundless energy and a striking lack of preciosity about the medium.

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She flirts with preciosity, particularly in her overbearing use of Keaton.

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“Darkness Odyssey” doesn’t become boring, but it does become a willful exercise in preciosity, in artful effects.

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At first, this kind of physicality is engaging, but soon a kind of preciosity sets in, as gamelike exercises are developed.

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