From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpreciouspre‧cious1 /ˈpreʃəs/●くろまる●くろまる○しろまる adjective1EMOTIONALsomething that is precious is valuable and important and should not be wasted or used without careprecious seconds/minutes/hours/timeWe cannot afford to waste precious time.planes delivering precious supplies of medicine and foodour planet’s precious resources2VALUErare and worth a lot of moneyprecious gem/stone/jewela statue covered with precious jewels3IMPORTANTprecious memories or possessions are important to you because they remind you of people you like or events in your lifeprecious toThe doll is cracked and worn, but it’s precious to me because it was my mother’s.► see thesaurus at valuable4[only before noun] spokenANNOY used to show that you are annoyed that someone seems to care too much about somethingI never touched your precious car!5spoken used to speak to someone you love, especially a baby or small childCome sit by me, precious.6American English spoken used in order to describe someone or something that is small and prettySYN cuteThe kids gave me that ornament. Isn’t it precious?7NATURAL formal too concerned about style or detail in your writing or speech, so that it does not seem naturalHis early work is rather precious and juvenile. —preciously adverb —preciousness noun [uncountable]COLLOCATIONSnounstimeMy time is precious, and I don't want to waste it.seconds/moments/minutes/hoursWe knew we only had a few more precious hours together.resourcesThe government has squandered the country’s precious resources.commodityWater is a precious commodity.assetThe organization’s most precious asset is its staff.giftHer illness made her appreciate more the precious gift of life.Examples from the Corpusprecious• Make sure you keep a careful eye on it - it's a gem and just as precious!• Back at the granary he persuaded the farm-worker to exchange it for the preciousantique.• Hello, precious, are you having fun?• You could help us out, in fact, if Maria doesn't mind handing her preciouscamera over.• But she was not about to reveal such preciousdreams to him.• The novel may be too precious for some, but it's good summer reading.• She felt a stab of resentment for the Church's claims on her preciousholiday.• What a precious little baby girl!• The robe was encrusted with preciousmetals and stones.• That bear is Ellie's most precious possession.• But twice a year, at the church, the group sells rosaries made with precious stones to raise funds.• For this reason temples and cathedrals frequently maintained artificers schooled in the use of precioussubstances.• Apparently I'd ruined her precioustowel.• Antelopeherds in the RockyMountains have lost preciouswinterpasture.precious resources• They began to suspect that time would be one of their most precious resources.• Smart governments know that by allowing trade, nations gently coerce their citizens to shiftprecious resources from low-productivity to high-productivity industries.• On this basis, precious resources have been allocated to massliteracycampaigns all over the Third World.precious gem/stone/jewel• A whole roomful of precious stones.• Drycameldroppingstied in bits of plasticbag were gold and precious gems.• He showed her the fruits he had gathered in the garden, and they had turned to precious stones.• The dome was entire gold, standing upon three hundred pillars of precious stones.• Her designs are classical and very delicate, mainly in 18-carat gold jewellery and set with precious stones and pearls.• Metaphoricalbloodstainsdrench these precious stones, however, which makes a visit to the exhibition both eerie and wearisome.• By comparison with gold, jade or precious stones pearls are much less durable.• On many important icons, precious gems relating to the colour and function of each chakra are used instead of metal.precious to• These schools are too precious to the community to close them.preciousprecious2 adverb informal →precious little/fewExamples from the Corpusprecious• When the doors were opened tothe public, precious few came.• From which it follows that many will chooseprecious little attachment.• The rest of us have precious little influence over the globaleconomy, though our lives are deeply affected by it.• The other difficulty is I have precious little instinct for business ventures.• While the photographs are excellent and plentiful. there is precious little video.• Food shopping takes time, a commodity of which most of us have precious little.Originprecious1(1200-1300)Old Frenchprecios, from Latinpretiosus, from pretium; → PRICE1