Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use precious in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun, adverb

Precious means of high value or worth. Example: “The way my partner looks at me is just so precious.”

Examples of precious by meaning

adjectiveOf 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.
  • People are a good thing, the most precious resource in a rich economy, so the progressive-minded feel.2013 August 16, Polly Toynbee, “Britain's booming birthrate”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 10, page 21

adjectiveRegarded with love or tenderness.

  • The way my partner looks at me is just so precious.

adjectiveExtremely protective or strict (about something).

  • Writers are often very precious about their work.
  • Pro chefs can be very precious about their kit.2009 September 16, Charlie Sorrel, “Chef’s Travel Bag: A Kitchen On Your Back”, in Wired, San Francisco, Calif.: Condé Nast Publications...
  • I wrote all these songs very quickly; I did a whole lot of material and wasn't too precious about it.2016 February 4, Spencer Kornhaber, quoting Jeremy Greenspan, “The Postindustrial Electronic Bar-Fly Blues”, in The Atlantic, Washington...

adjectiveThorough; utter.

  • a precious rascal

nounSomeone (or something) who is loved; a darling.

  • “It isn't fair, my precious, is it, to ask us what it's got in its nassty little pocketses?”1937, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
  • "I won't neglect you for any one, will I, my preciouses?"1909, Mrs. Teignmouth Shore, The Pride of the Graftons, page 57

adverbVery; an intensifier.

  • There is precious little we can do.
  • precious few pictures of him exist

More sentences with precious

  • Will you trade your precious watch for my earring?From the entry trade
  • The rapid influx of precious metals from the new mines had an inflationary effect on the specie based economy.From the entry inflationary
  • This company trades (in) precious metal.From the entry trade
  • Seashells, round pebbles, driftwood—these natural materials are more precious to me than expensive jewels.2021, Young-Ran Lee, Create Dream Catchers, page 41. From the entry mermaids' tears
  • The precious water underneath Cal-Nev-Ari and money saved by doing business there drew investors to the site.2021 August 20, John Langeler, Justin Hopkins, “Founder of Cal-Nev-Ari reflects on sale of tiny town”, in 8 News Now, archived from the…. From the entry Tonopah
  • Sometimes even the most precious pamper packer princess wants to role play, hmm?2021 October 22, @PadDockDal, Twitter. From the entry pamper packer
  • I search for information on the Dominion, but there is precious little.2016 October 4, Joey Graceffa with Laura L. Sullivan, Children of Eden: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Keywords Press/Atria, →ISBN, page 73. From the entry datablock
  • Frank was so pleased; his precious car had enjoyed another dingless outing.2011, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Amy Newmark, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Family Matters. From the entry dingless
  • What do you mean 'too much education?' I won't spend a cêntimo of your precious money.2010, Ke Huang, “Lullaby: Barcarole”, in The One Million Stories Creative Writing Project 2010 Anthology, One Million Stories Small Press…. From the entry cêntimo
  • Getting gilled on gack without the precious reward of a drink on top, though, really sucked.2009 March, Christopher John Campion, Escape from Bellevue: A Dive Bar Odyssey, Gotham Books, →ISBN, page 195. From the entry gack
  • Rather it was a tangible, real thing, precious, and not easily affordable.2008, James McBride, Song yet sung. From the entry uncruel
  • If there be one name more charming, more precious than another, it is this name.2008, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Devotional Classics of C. H. Spurgeon, →ISBN, page 8. From the entry sum total
  • Outside, the city meandered on more fluidly, like a river of precious things and possibilities.2006, Tsitsi Dangarembga, The Book of Not, Faber & Faber Limited (2021), pages 252–253. From the entry Harare
  • There must be something better to spend my precious time daymaring.2003, Hecate: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Women’s Liberation, page 322. From the entry daymare
  • He cut a large slice, wrapped it in newspaper and, beaming, handed this precious gift to Ildikó.1998, Csaba Teglas, chapter VII, in Budapest Exit, page 73. From the entry white bread
  • Articles imported from the Indian provinces included ivoryware, precious stones, jewellery and other ornamental objects.1994, B. A. Litvinsky, “Cities and urban life in the Kushan kingdom”, in János Harmatta, B. N. Puri, G. F. Etemadi, editors, History of…. From the entry ivoryware
  • Failure to do so will crash the system, and you will lose your precious work.1989, PC Mag, volume 8, number 5, page 276. From the entry extension
  • Archer, with great ceremony, turned on the flow to rack the precious golden stuff into casks.1987, Keith Dunstan, The Amber Nectar, Ringwood: Vicking O'Neil, page 108. From the entry rack
  • During TRP VIIII one officina ceased to strike in precious metals.1979, David William MacDowall, The Western Coinages of Nero, →ISBN, page 117. From the entry officina
  • My precious, please don′t ever send me a penny of extra money.1977, Katherine Mansfield, The Letters and Journals of Katherine Mansfield: A Selection, page 96. From the entry straight dinkum
  • Nor does it mean that Canadians are intrinsically more precious to us than subcontinentals.1965, Charles Burton Marshall, The Exercise of Sovereignty: Papers on Foreign Policy, Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins Press, →LCCN, page…. From the entry subcontinental
  • “Oh, there's my precious Poppet,” said Phyllis, as a distant barking reached the ears.1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC. From the entry flute
  • In the Middle Ages Rhabdomancers were employed to discover mines, and the whereabouts of precious stones.1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 145. From the entry whereabouts
  • Lally a bajuband and a pendant set with precious stones as a nazar.1927, H. DODWELL, editor, The Diary of Ananda Ranga Pillai, volume XI, Madras: THE SUPERINTENDENT, GOVERNMENT PRESS, translation of…. From the entry bajuband
  • They all went into the house, and left me feeling a precious idiot.1915, John Buchan, chapter 10, in The Thirty-Nine Steps. From the entry bark up the wrong tree
  • Stealthily, so soon as the house slumbered, she packed her small outfit, embedding therein the precious gift.1911, Max Beerbohm, chapter II, in Zuleika Dobson. From the entry manumission
  • To her, every crab’s life is precious.2025 August 19, Melissa Scott Sinclair, “Consider the Hermit Crab”, in Slate. From the entry hermit crab
  • Sharif at the time said the decision “will save the country precious foreign exchange” and that Pakistan has to “practice austerity.”2022 June 15, Rhea Mogul, “Pakistanis told to drink less tea as nation grapples with economic crisis”, in CNN. From the entry Pakistan
  • It holds two of my most precious possessions - my first handwritten love letter from a boy and dried Kadupul Blossoms.2017, F. F. John, The Proem. From the entry kadupul

Meaning of precious

  1. adjective Of high value or worth.
  2. adjective Regarded with love or tenderness.
  3. adjective Treated with too much reverence.

Full definition of precious

Questions about precious in a sentence

How do you use precious in a sentence?
Precious is used as an adjective, noun and adverb. For example: “The way my partner looks at me is just so precious.”
What is a short sentence with precious?
“a precious rascal”
What does precious mean?
Precious means of high value or worth.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: precious (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use precious in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/precious. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.