1 rare and worth a lot of money:
a precious vase * The crown was set with precious jewels-diamonds, rubies and emeralds.
seealsoPRECIOUSMETAL, PRECIOUSSTONE
2 valuable or important and not to be wasted:
Clean water is a precious commodity in that part of the world. * You're wasting precious time!
3 loved or valued very much:
precious memories / possessions
4 [onlybeforenoun] (spoken) used to show you are angry that another person thinks sth is very important:
I didn't touch your precious car!
5 (disapproving) (especially of people and their behaviour) very formal, exaggerated and not natural in what you say and do
preciousness noun [U]:
the preciousness of an old friendship * His writings reveal an unattractive preciousness of style.
adverb (informal) ~ little / few used to emphasize the fact that there is very little of sth or that there are very few of sth:
There's precious little to do in this town. * Precious few people can afford those prices.
