From Middle English precious, borrowed from Old French precios, from Latin pretiōsus, from pretium; see price.

• IPA: /ˈpɹɛʃ.əs/

precious

1. Of high value or worth.

   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.

2. Regarded with love or tenderness.

   My precious daughter is to marry.

3. (pejorative) Treated with too much reverence.

   He spent hours painting the eyes of the portrait, which his fellow artists regarded as a bit precious.

4. (informal, followed by about) Extremely protective or strict (about something).

   Writers are often very precious about their work.

   • 2009 September 16, Charlie Sorrel, “Chef’s Travel Bag: A Kitchen On Your Back”, in Wired‎^{[https://web.archive.org/web/20230324012109/https://www.wired.com/2009/09/chefs-travel-bag-a-kitchen-on-your-back/]}, San Francisco, C.A.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN ↗, →OCLC ↗, archived from the original ↗ on 2023-03-24:

     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.

   • 2016 February 4, Spencer Kornhaber, quoting Jeremy Greenspan, “The Postindustrial Electronic Bar-Fly Blues”, in The Atlantic‎^{[https://web.archive.org/web/20221002135221/https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/02/junior-boys-big-black-coat-interview-jeremy-greenspan/459876/]}, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN ↗, →OCLC ↗, archived from the original ↗ on 2022-10-02:

     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.

   • 2021 February 18, Charlie Warzel, “Don’t Go Down the Rabbit Hole”, in The New York Times‎^{[https://web.archive.org/web/20230727235253/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/opinion/fake-news-media-attention.html]}, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN ↗, →OCLC ↗, archived from the original ↗ on 2023-07-27:

     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."

5. (informal, pejorative) Blasted; damned.
6. (pejorative) Contrived to be cute or charming.
7. (colloquial) Thorough; utter.

   a precious rascal

• (of high value) dear, valuable
• (contrived to charm) saccharine, syrupy, twee

• French: précieux
• German: kostbar, wertvoll
• Italian: prezioso
• Portuguese: precioso
• Russian: драгоце́нный
• Spanish: precioso

• Italian: prezioso, adorato, unico

• German: süßlich, kitschig

precious (plural preciouses)

1. Someone (or something) who is loved; a darling.
   • 1937, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit:

     “It isn't fair, my precious, is it, to ask us what it's got in its nassty little pocketses?”

   • 1909, Mrs. Teignmouth Shore, The Pride of the Graftons, page 57:

     She sat down with the dogs in her lap. "I won't neglect you for any one, will I, my preciouses?"

precious (not comparable)

1. Very; an intensifier.

   There is precious little we can do.

   precious few pictures of him exist

1. Surname, originating as a male or female nickname.
2. A female given name.