precious

Precious, a.

Etymology: [OF. precious, precius, precios, F. précieux, L. pretiosus, fr. pretium price, worth, value. See Price.]

1. Of great price; costly; as, a precious stone. "The precious bane." Milton.

2. Of great value or worth; very valuable; highly esteemed; dear; beloved; as, precious recollections. She is more precious than rules. Prov. iii. 15. Many things which are most precious are neglected only because the value of them lieth hid. Hooker.

Note: Also used ironically; as, a precious rascal.

3. Particular; fastidious; overnice. [Obs.] Lest that precious folk be with me wroth. Chaucer. Precious metals, the uncommon and highly valuable metals, esp. gold and silver. -- Precious stones, gems; jewels.

Shades of meaning

Fernald has no entry of its own for precious; he lists it under rare.

Where he writes about it:

Rare has the added sense of precious, which is sometimes, but not necessarily, blended with that above given; as, a rare gem. — from rare

Synonyms

rare curious extraordinary incomparable infrequent odd peculiar remarkable scarce singular strange uncommon unique unparalleled unprecedented unusual

Antonyms

general normal usual

etymology Webster’s online