1 an award that is given to a person who wins a competition, race, etc. or who does very good work:
She was awarded the Nobel Peace prize. * He won first prize in the woodwind section. * There are no prizes for guessing (= it is very easy to guess) who she was with. * I won ｣500 in prize money. * Win a car in our grand prize draw!
seealsoCONSOLATIONPRIZE
2 something very important or valuable that is difficult to achieve or obtain:
World peace is the greatest prize of all.
adjective [onlybeforenoun]
1 (especially of an animal, a flower or a vegetable) good enough to win a prize in a competition:
prize cattle / blooms
2 being a very good example of its kind:
a prize pupil / student * a prize example * He's a prize specimen of the human race! * (informal) She's a prize idiot (= very silly).
verb [VN]
1 [usuallypassive] ~ sth (for sth) to value sth highly
SYNTREASURE:
an era when honesty was prized above all other virtues * Oil of cedarwood is highly prized for its use in medicine and perfumery.
2 (AmE) = PRISE
