Definitions for precious
ˈprɛʃ əspre·cious

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

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"

WiktionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

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 DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Precious

   Precious is a song by Annie Lennox. It was released as the second single from her debut solo album, Diva, in 1992 and peaked at number 23 in the UK. The B-side, Step by Step, was later covered by Whitney Houston for the soundtrack of her 1996 film, The Preacher's Wife, and became a top 10 hit. This track is unrelated to the B-Side track by Eurythmics of the same name.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. precious

   Precious generally refers to something that is highly valued, cherished, or considered of great importance. It can be used to describe something rare, valuable, or sentimental in nature, often associated with inherent beauty, uniqueness, or significance. Precious items or qualities are often treated with care, protection, and esteem.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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.]

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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 DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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 ResourcesRate this definition:1.0 / 1 vote

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.

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. PRECIOUS

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Precious is ranked #113155 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Precious surname appeared 155 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Precious.
   
   80.6% or 125 total occurrences were White.
   9.6% or 15 total occurrences were Black.
   6.4% or 10 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.

British National Corpus

1. Adjectives Frequency

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

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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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. Richard Roth:

   I really think it's a body blow for the United Nations, the Secretary-General said it's The Secretary-General lowest moment on the job. They hold all these' preventative diplomacy' sessions and retreats and consultations... and then Russian tanks run right over the precious United Nations charter.

2. Jane Chen and Drue Kataoka:

   On the swaddles and blankets we only have hands of mothers and babies of developing countries. It’s unusual to have fine art on baby products, so when you are holding your baby – holding the most precious thing in the world – you will also be holding the hands, crisscrossing hands with mothers and babies from around the world.

3. Natural Resources:

   It's a pretty precious habitat down there, anytime you disturb it and move it there are implications to the food web.

4. Tom Udall:

   Even as archaeologists are making exciting new discoveries about this region – and even as Tribes and the American public speak out in overwhelming support of protecting this precious landscape – Chaco is being threatened by expanding energy development, including recently proposed leasing inside this long-standing buffer zone.

5. Mike McGirl:

   I sincerely appreciate her efforts to memorialize those precious lives lost to suicide and to prevent further tragedies from occurring.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=precious
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Precious
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=precious
4. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precious
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/precious
7. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=precious
8. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=precious
9. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
   https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html
10. ^ Usage in printed sources
    https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=precious