pretious

Adjective

precious (comparative more precious, superlative most 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.

   Synonyms:

   dear, valuable, without price, estimable, worthy, worthly, prizable, treasurous, worth every penny, invaluable

2. Regarded with love or tenderness.
   • The way my partner looks at me is just so precious.
3. (derogatory) Treated with too much reverence.
   • He spent hours painting the eyes of the portrait, which his fellow artists regarded as a bit precious.
4. (ironic) Excessively complicated.
5. (informal) Extremely protective or strict (about something).
   • Writers are often very precious about their work.
6. (derogatory, informal) Blasted; damned.
   • It’s all owing to your precious caution that they got hold of it. If you had let me burn it, and taken my word that it was gone, it would have been a heap of ashes behind the fire, instead of being whole and sound, inside of my great-coat.1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby

   Synonyms:

   confounded, ever-loving, raasclaat, 4ucking, accursed, bally, blasted, bleeding, bleeping, blessed

See all 12 meanings of precious