Crossword Dictionary

precious

precious - a 

of high worth or cost; "diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds are precious stones" 

Wordplays

synonyms

big-ticket, costly, dear, expensive, extravagant, high, high-end, high-ticket, premium, priceless, pricey (also pricy), spendy [chiefly Northwest], ultraexpensive, valuable

sentence examples

“diamonds and other precious stones”

“We can save precious time by taking this shortcut.”

“the family's most precious moments”

Merriam-Webster

etymology

precious (adj.)

mid-13c., "valuable, of great worth or price, costly," from Old French precios "precious, costly, honorable, of great worth" (11c., Modern French précieux), from Latin pretiosus "costly, valuable," from pretium "value, worth, price".

The meaning "over-refined, fastidious" in English is by late 14c. From 16c. through 18c. it also had a secondary ironic (inverted) sense of "worthless." Precious metals (1776) "gold and silver (and sometimes platinum)" are those that are rare and costly enough to be used as a standard of value and abundant enough to be used for coinage.