precious
- of high price or great value; very valuable or costly: precious metals.
- highly esteemed for some spiritual, nonmaterial, or moral quality: precious memories.
- dear; beloved: a precious child.
- affectedly or excessively delicate, refined, or nice: precious manners.
- flagrant; gross: a precious fool.
- a dearly beloved person; darling.
- extremely; very: She wastes precious little time.
Origin of precious
Synonyms for precious
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comRelated Words for preciousness
majesty, brilliance, splendor, grandeur, luster, effulgence, radiance, pomp, richness, pageantry, brightness, resplendence, fineness, magnificence, sublimity, preciousness, gorgeousnessExamples from the Web for preciousness
Contemporary Examples of preciousness
What does the preciousness of our white flesh represent in contrast to burnt brown bodies created by our bombs?
He stripped it of its preciousness, embraced its commercial, mass appeal, and turned the designer into a celebrity.
Some of his preciousness is a veneer, however, for his fatalistic streak.
Ralph Fiennes Discusses ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel,’ J. Lo, and That ‘Seinfeld’ EpisodeMarlow Stern
March 6, 2014
Historical Examples of preciousness
A tale for the young, illustrative of the preciousness of Scripture promises.
Hunter's MarjoryMargaret Bruce Clarke
This she can do now and then; but even so her new lover has yet to learn her preciousness.
OxfordFrederick Douglas How
Let it be so, with an ever-growing sense of the preciousness of the work of intercession.
To My Younger BrethrenHandley C. G. Moule
Now they wore a glamour and a preciousness that was bound up with life itself.
Miss MappEdward Frederic Benson
The idea of preciousness, as well as that of protection, is included in the word.
The Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, Vol. 2Alexander Maclaren
precious
- beloved; dear; cherished
- very costly or valuable
- held in high esteem, esp in moral or spiritual matters
- very fastidious or affected, as in speech, manners, etc
- informal worthlessyou and your precious ideas!
- informal (intensifier)there's precious little left
Word Origin for precious
Word Origin and History for preciousness
precious
mid-13c., from Old French precios "precious, costly, honorable, of great worth" (11c., Modern French précieux), from Latin pretiosus "costly, valuable," from pretium "value, worth, price" (see price (n.)). Meaning "over-refined" in English first recorded late 14c. In Johnson's day, it also had a secondary inverted sense of "worthless." Related: Preciously; preciousness.
precious
"beloved or dear person or object," 1706, from precious (adj.).