precious

pre|cious¹ [ˈpreʃəs] adj

[Date: 1200-1300; : Old French; Origin: precios, from Latin pretiosus, from pretium; PRICE¹]

1.) something that is precious is valuable and important and should not be wasted or used without care

precious seconds/minutes/hours/time

▪ We cannot afford to waste precious time.

▪ planes delivering precious supplies of medicine and food

▪ our planet's precious resources

2.) rare and worth a lot of money

precious gem/stone/jewel

▪ a statue covered with precious jewels

3.) precious memories or possessions are important to you because they remind you of people you like or events in your life

precious to

▪ The doll is cracked and worn, but it's precious to me because it was my mother's.

4.) [only before noun] spoken

used to show that you are annoyed that someone seems to care too much about something

▪ I never touched your precious car!

5.) spoken used to speak to someone you love, especially a baby or small child

▪ Come sit by me, precious.

6.) AmE spoken used in order to describe someone or something that is small and pretty

= ↑cute

▪ The kids gave me that ornament. Isn't it precious?

7.) formal too concerned about style or detail in your writing or speech, so that it does not seem natural

▪ His early work is rather precious and juvenile.

>preciously adv

>preciousness n [U]

precious ²

precious² adv informal

precious little/few

very little or very few

▪ I had precious little time for reading.