precious en · ADJ
Pronunciation
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English precious, borrowed from Old French precios (“valuable, costly, precious, beloved, also affected, finical”), from Latin pretiōsus (“of great value, costly, dear, precious”), from pretium (“value, price”); see price.
Meanings
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Of high value or worth.
People are a good thing, the most precious resource in a rich economy, so the progressive-minded feel. Only misanthropists disagree or the dottier Malthusians who send green-ink tweets deploring any state assistance for child-rearing.
2013 August 16, Polly Toynbee, “Britain's booming birthrate”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 10, page 21:The crown had many precious gemstones. This building work needs site access, and tell the city council that I don't care about a few lorry tyre ruts across their precious grass verge.
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Regarded with love or tenderness.
The way my partner looks at me is just so precious.
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(derogatory) Treated with too much reverence.
He spent hours painting the eyes of the portrait, which his fellow artists regarded as a bit precious.
- (ironic) Excessively complicated.
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(followed by about, informal) Extremely protective or strict (about something).
The course is not precious about overly academic sources, either. ¶ "The students are confused when I tell them to try and trace something down with a quick Wikipedia search, because they've been told not to do it," she [Christina Ladam] said. "Not for research papers, but if you're trying to find out if a site is legitimate or if somebody has a history as a conspiracy theorist and you show them how to follow the page's citation, it's quick and effective, which means it's more likely to be used."
2021 February 18, Charlie Warzel, “Don't Go Down the Rabbit Hole”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Jul 2023:Well, I didn't realize it until almost after the fact. I wrote all these songs very quickly; I did a whole lot of material and wasn't too precious about it. The lyric writing was done in much the same way. I wrote stuff and sang it, and the demos stuck, which is different from what I've done before, when I edited it.
2016 February 4, Spencer Kornhaber, quoting Jeremy Greenspan, “The Postindustrial Electronic Bar-Fly Blues”, in The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 02 Oct 2022:Hearing what a struggle it was for her, I began to understand why some people are so precious about being Irish. Being second-generation Irish, she had the option to hide behind her accent. Instead she would thump her fist to defend Irish people from those speaking out against them.
2016 November 20, Katie Walsh, “Why are Irish people so precious about Irishness?”, in The Irish Times, Dublin: Irish Times Trust, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 01 Apr 2023:Writers are often very precious about their work.
Pro chefs can be very precious about their kit. Watch a bartender trying to borrow a simple, cheap fruit-knife from the kitchen and you'll see what I mean.
2009 September 16, Charlie Sorrel, “Chef’s Travel Bag: A Kitchen On Your Back”, in Wired, San Francisco, Calif.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 Mar 2023:
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(derogatory, informal) Blasted; damned.
It’s all owing to your precious caution that they got hold of it. If you had let me burn it, and taken my word that it was gone, it would have been a heap of ashes behind the fire, instead of being whole and sound, inside of my great-coat.
1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby:
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(derogatory) Contrived to be cute or charming.
In the abstract, Stuhlbarg’s twinkly-eyed sidekick suggests Joe Pesci in Lethal Weapon 2 by way of late-period Robin Williams with an alien twist, but Stuhlbarg makes a character that easily could have come across as precious into a surprisingly palatable, even charming man.
2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club:
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(colloquial) Thorough; utter.
a precious rascal
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| more precious | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most precious | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| pretious | alternative, obsolete | lexicographic |
Deriveds
unprecious · precious stone · nonprecious · preciously · precious coral · semiprecious · preciousness · eight-precious · semi-precious · non-precious · overprecious · Precious Blood · precious metal
Hypernyms
treacly · squishy · cheesy · sappy · kitsch · sappy · maudlin · gooey · overwrought · overemotional · slushy · icky · mushy · oversentimental · kitschy · sickly sweet · syrupy · cheesy · soppy · schmaltzy · hokey · sickly sweet · corny · drippy · soupy · bathetic · mawkish
Relateds
precious few · depreciate · praise · precious little · appreciate · appraise · price · preciosity
Synonyms
root and branch · dratted · pure · unmitigated · damblasted · valuable · priceless · worth every penny · goddarned · thorough · absolute · total · decided · sniggered · full-bore · out-and-out · prize · estimable · downright · perfect · jiggered · ever-loving · deuced · complete · furshlugginer · cursed · goshdarn · prizable · ever-loving · cowson · outright · rank · goddam · dagnabbed · precious · damn · fugging · darn · straight-out · goddamn · syrupy · frigging · saccharine · unconditional · hecking · unattenuated · consummate · sheer · bleeding · blinking · utter · flipping · consarned · holy · flaming · dashed · worthy · stinking · 4ucking · danged · without price · valuable · mollyfogging · fricking · plain · worth one's weight in gold · precious · confounded · ruddy · wholesale · right · treasurous · fudging · dadburn · absolute · blooming · categorical · regular · dang · bally · unalloyed · stark · motherfucking · full-on · fecking · wholesale · living · raasclaat · blessed · worthly · infernal · freaking · unreserved · thoroughgoing · confounded · sodding · invaluable · damned · goldurn · pissing · unqualified · raasclaat · damnable · unpriced · bloody · cotton-picking · full · doggone · blasted · godforsaken · clean · unrestricted · categoric · uncompromising · goddamned · blimming · effing · dear · bleeping · fucking · frightful · full-blown · unfettered · proper · mere · gormed · abject · twee · perfect · arrant · precious · accursed · without price · darned · unvaluable · unadulterated · goshdarned · dadgum
Translations (130)
ru дорого́й (of high value or worth) · lt brangus (of high value or worth) · eo altvalora (of high value or worth) · pdt leef (regarded with love) · mi puipuiaki (of high value or worth) · bg це́нен (of high value or worth) · br prizius (of high value or worth) · is dýrmætur (of high value or worth) · uk кошто́вний (of high value or worth) · tg қиматбаҳо (of high value or worth) · ru драгоце́нный (of high value or worth) · kn ಅತ್ಯಮೂಲ್ಯ (of high value or worth) · ml പിലയേറിയ (of high value or worth) · eo valorega (of high value or worth) · sv dyrbar (of high value or worth) · mn үнэгэн (of high value or worth) · es preciado (of high value or worth) · ta விலையுர்ந்த (of high value or worth) · km ដ៏មានតម្លៃ (of high value or worth) · mt prezzjuż (of high value or worth) · gd luachmhor (of high value or worth) · nl waardevol (of high value or worth) · kk асыл (of high value or worth) · ky асыл (of high value or worth) · de wertvoll (of high value or worth) · el επιτηδευμένος (contrived to be cute) · oc preciós (of high value or worth) · ja 大切な (of high value or worth) · pl drogocenny (of high value or worth) · sq i çmuar (of high value or worth) · my အဖိုးတန် (of high value or worth) · lo ມີຄ່າ (of high value or worth) · ast preciosu (of high value or worth) · de süßlich (contrived to be cute) · mi puiaki (of high value or worth) · pl cenny (of high value or worth) · es precioso (of high value or worth) · cs vzácný (of high value or worth) · hu drága (of high value or worth) · tg гаронбаҳо (of high value or worth) · it prezioso (of high value or worth) · mi matahīapo (of high value or worth) · et väärtuslik (of high value or worth) · lv dārgs (of high value or worth) · sk drahý (of high value or worth) · gd prìseil (of high value or worth) · ga luachmhar (of high value or worth) · ar ثَمِين (of high value or worth) · hi क़ीमती (of high value or worth) · mi marihi (of high value or worth) · mi mōmōhanga (of high value or worth) · uz qimmatbaho (of high value or worth) · ota عزیز (of high value or worth) · tr kıymetli (of high value or worth) · cs drahocenný (of high value or worth) · cs drahý (of high value or worth) · kk қимас (of high value or worth) · bg любим (regarded with love) · nl kostbaar (of high value or worth) · el πολύτιμος (of high value or worth) · ro prețios (of high value or worth) · uk дорогоці́нний (of high value or worth) · th มีค่า (of high value or worth) · pt precioso (of high value or worth) · mr मूल्यवान (of high value or worth) · sh drag (of high value or worth) · ka ძვირფასი (of high value or worth) · sl dragocen (of high value or worth) · mk скап (of high value or worth) · uz qimmat (of high value or worth) · chr ᎦᎸᏉᏗ (of high value or worth) · hu értékes (of high value or worth) · gl precioso (of high value or worth) · af kosbaar (of high value or worth) · it unico (regarded with love) · sk vzácny (of high value or worth) · mk скапоцен (of high value or worth) · ur قیمتی (of high value or worth) · el πολύτιμος (regarded with love) · pl drogi (of high value or worth) · th มีประโยชน์ (of high value or worth) · ne अमूल्य (of high value or worth) · tyz bắt (of high value or worth) · eo kara (of high value or worth) · az qiymətli (of high value or worth) · tk gymmatbaha (of high value or worth) · fr précieux (of high value or worth) · it prezioso (regarded with love) · pro precios (of high value or worth) · tr değerli (of high value or worth) · fa گرانبها (of high value or worth) · tr değerli (regarded with love) · ky кымбаттуу (of high value or worth) · bg скъп (of high value or worth) · bn মূল্যবান (of high value or worth) · vi quý (of high value or worth) · cmn 寶貴 /宝贵 (of high value or worth) · ga lómhar (of high value or worth) · ta விலைமதிப்பற்ற (of high value or worth) · hi प्यारा (of high value or worth) · it adorato (regarded with love) · nb dyrebar (of high value or worth) · eo kosta (of high value or worth) · vi quý báu (of high value or worth) · sh dragocen (of high value or worth) · he יָקָר (regarded with love) · ru це́нный (of high value or worth) · id berharga (of high value or worth) · te అమూల్యమైన (of high value or worth) · tr kıymetli (regarded with love) · haw makamae (of high value or worth) · ota عزیز (regarded with love) · be дарагі́ (of high value or worth) · hy թանկարժեք (of high value or worth) · he יָקָר (of high value or worth) · de kitschig (contrived to be cute) · la pretiōsus (of high value or worth) · be кашто́ўны (of high value or worth) · bg скъпоце́нен (of high value or worth) · sh драг (of high value or worth) · de kostbar (of high value or worth) · da dyrebar (of high value or worth) · haw hiwahiwa (of high value or worth) · ca preciós (of high value or worth) · uk дороги́й (of high value or worth) · ko 귀중한 (of high value or worth) · ga maoineach (of high value or worth) · fi kallisarvoinen (of high value or worth) · sh драгоцен (of high value or worth) · hu becses (of high value or worth)