of great value or high price
a precious stone
highly esteemed or cherished; dear
His friendship was precious to her
excessively refined; affected
used as an intensifier: highly valued by some but regarded with contempt by the speaker
Keep your precious lawnmower, I'll buy a goat!
You can keep your precious Costa Brava: I prefer Blackpool!
preciously adv
preciousness noun
[Middle English via Old French from Latin pretiosus, from pretium price1]