adjective
1.
of such great value that a suitable price is hard to estimate
a precious twelfth century painting
Synonyms: costly, inestimable, invaluable, priceless, valuable; compare costly 1
Related Word: choice, exquisite, rare, recherché; treasurable; rich; prizable
Idioms: of price
Contrasted words: base, common, mean, paltry, poor, rubbishy, shabby, trashy; contemptible, despicable, miserable; claptrap, gimcrack, trumpery
Antonyms: cheap; worthless
2.
Synonyms: favorite 1, beloved, blue-eyed, darling, dear, fair-haired, loved, pet, white-haired, white-headed
3.
Synonyms: nice 1, choosy, fastidious, finicky, fussy, miminy-piminy, particular, persnickety, picky, squeamish
4.
excessively refined
too precious to mingle with the common people
Synonyms: affected, alembicated, chichi, la-di-da, overnice, overrefined, précieux; compare genteel 3
Related Word: ostentatious, pretentious, showy; artful, sophisticated, studied
Contrasted words: artless, ingenuous, naive, natural, simple, unaffected, unartful, unschooled, unsophisticated, unstudied, untutored; down-to-earth, matter-of-fact, practical, pragmatic, rational