Definitions for precious
ˈprɛʃ əspre·cious

Princeton's WordNet(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. cherished, precious, treasured, wantedadjective

   characterized by feeling or showing fond affection for

   "a cherished friend"; "children are precious"; "a treasured heirloom"; "so good to feel wanted"

2. preciousadjective

   of high worth or cost

   "diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds are precious stones"

3. valued, preciousadjective

   held in great esteem for admirable qualities especially of an intrinsic nature

   "a valued friend"; "precious memories"

4. cute, preciousadverb

   obviously contrived to charm

   "an insufferably precious performance"; "a child with intolerably cute mannerisms"

5. precious, preciouslyadverb

   extremely

   "there is precious little time left"

Wiktionary(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. preciousnoun

   someone (or something) who is loved; a darling

2. preciousadverb

   used as an intensifier

   There is precious little we can do.

3. preciousadjective

   of high value or worth, or seemingly regarded as such

4. preciousadjective

   regarded with love or tenderness.

5. preciousadjective

   treated with too much reverence.

6. preciousadjective

   contrived to be cute or charming

7. Etymology: From precious, from precios, from pretiosus, from pretium; see price.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. PRECIOUSadjective

   Etymology: precieux, Fr. pretiosus, Lat.

   1. Valuable; being of great worth.

   Many things, which are most precious, are neglected only because the value of them lieth hid. Richard Hooker.

   I cannot but remember such things were,
   That were most precious to me. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

   Why in that rawness left you wife and children,
   Those precious motives, those strong knots of love,
   Without leave taking? William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

   I never saw
   Such precious deeds in one that promis’d nought
   But begg’ry and poor luck. William Shakespeare, Cymbeline.

   These virtues are the hidden beauties of a soul, which make it lovely and precious in his sight, from whom no secrets are concealed. Joseph Addison, Spectator.

   2. Costly; of great price: as, a precious stone.

   Let none admire
   That riches grow in hell; that soil may best
   Deserve the precious bane. John Milton.

   3. Worthless. An epithet of contempt or irony.

   More of the same kind, concerning these precious saints amongst the Turks, may be seen in Pietro della valle. John Locke.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Preciousadjective

   of great price; costly; as, a precious stone

2. Preciousadjective

   of great value or worth; very valuable; highly esteemed; dear; beloved; as, precious recollections

3. Preciousadjective

   particular; fastidious; overnice

4. Etymology: [OF. precious, precius, precios, F. prcieux, L. pretiosus, fr. pretium price, worth, value. See Price.]

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Precious

   Precious were a British girl group, comprising Louise Rose, Anya Lahiri, Sophie McDonnell, Kalli Clark-Sternberg and Jenny Frost. They first achieved fame as the UK's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest and went on to become a moderately popular act until the group disbanded in 2000.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Precious

   presh′us, adj. of great price or worth: costly: highly esteemed: worthless, contemptible (in irony): fastidious, overnice: (coll.) considerable: (B.) valuable because rare.—adv. (coll.) extremely.—n. Precios′ity, fastidiousness, affected overrefinement.—adv. Prec′iously.—ns. Prec′ious-met′al, a metal of great value, as gold or silver; Prec′iousness; Prec′ious-stone, a stone of value and beauty for ornamentation: a gem or jewel. [O. Fr. precios (Fr. précieux)—L. pretiosus—pretium, price.]

Suggested Resources(1.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. precious

   Quotes by precious -- Explore a large variety of famous quotes made by precious on the Quotes.net website.

2. precious

   Song lyrics by precious -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by precious on the Lyrics.com website.

British National Corpus

1. Adjectives Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'precious' in Adjectives Frequency: #717

How to pronounce precious?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say precious in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of precious in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of precious in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of precious in a Sentence

1. Vaughn Taylor:

   I made a lot of mistakes that day, just being careless, every time I go out there, I try not make the same mistakes and realize how precious life is.

2. Michelle Bachelet:

   Small island nations are among those suffering the most catastrophic effects of climate change, although they contribute very little to fuelling the problem, just this past week, yet another devastating hurricane hit the Bahamas, taking a terrible toll in human life and destroying precious development gains.

3. Alan Tauber:

   ( H) e has had the most precious years of Chester Hollman III life stolen from Chester Hollman III by an indifferent system that too often refuses to re-examine doubtful cases or credit evidence of obvious innocence, we are only sorry that Chester Hollman III mother did not live to see Chester Hollman III declared an innocent man.

4. Mary Schmich:

   Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. The older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

5. Shekhar Saxena:

   In general, countries that are facing serious socio-economic challenges are at a higher risk of having mental health problems within their communities, the rate of depression and the rate of suicide actually do increase significantly for countries that are suffering from economic downturn. These are precious loss of life which a country should protect by maintaining the mental health care that is due to these people during these times of stress.

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