precious

American  

[presh-uhs] / ˈprɛʃ əs /

adjective

1. of high price or great value; very valuable or costly.

   precious metals.

2. highly esteemed for some spiritual, nonmaterial, or moral quality.

   precious memories.

3. dear; beloved.

   a precious child.

   Synonyms:

   darling

4. affectedly or excessively delicate, refined, or nice.

   precious manners.

5. flagrant; gross.

   a precious fool.

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noun

1. a dearly beloved person; darling.

adverb

1. extremely; very.

   She wastes precious little time.

precious British  

/ ˈprɛʃəs /

adjective

1. beloved; dear; cherished

2. very costly or valuable

3. held in high esteem, esp in moral or spiritual matters

4. very fastidious or affected, as in speech, manners, etc

5. informal worthless

   you and your precious ideas!

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adverb

1. informal (intensifier)

   there's precious little left

Related Words

See valuable.

Other Word Forms

• nonprecious adjective
• nonpreciously adverb
• nonpreciousness noun
• preciously adverb
• preciousness noun
• unprecious adjective
• unpreciously adverb
• unpreciousness noun

Etymology

Origin of precious

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English preciose (from Old French precios ), from Latin pretiōsus “costly, valuable,” equivalent to preti(um) “price, value, worth” ( price ) + -ōsus -ous

Example Sentences

Instead, the precious metal has offered something that may be even better — a source of liquidity.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 4, 2026

It then changed the instructions, according to the Associated Press, after local police issued a statement asking the public to capture and turn in American pilots alive to security agencies to “receive a precious prize.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026

What next for Dowman - how do you look after a precious talent?

From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026

AI chips are the most precious commodity at any leading research lab, and at OpenAI, the video-generating app Sora was eating up far too many of them.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

As I stood there with the .22 in my hands—one of the most precious treasures a country boy can own—I looked over to the pony in our barn lot.

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls