"preciosity" meaning in All languages combined

See preciosity on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /ˌpɹɛʃiˈɒsəti/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˌpɹɛʃiˈɑsəti/ [General-American] Forms: preciosities [plural]
Etymology: From Latin pretiōsitās (“great value; high price”), probably via French préciosité. Etymology templates: {{der|en|la|pretiōsitās|gloss=great value; high price}} Latin pretiōsitās (“great value; high price”), {{cog|fr|en|préciosité}} French préciosité Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} preciosity (countable and uncountable, plural preciosities)
  1. (usually derogatory, uncountable) The quality of being overly refined in an affected way (often used to describe speech or writing, but also visual art and dress). Tags: derogatory, uncountable, usually Synonyms: affectation, fastidiousness
    Sense id: en-preciosity-en-noun-Nc7tvnwU Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 44 5 49 2 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 44 4 49 3 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 45 2 51 2
  2. (usually derogatory, countable) An instance of preciosity; something that is overly refined in an affected way. Tags: countable, derogatory, usually Synonyms: affectation
    Sense id: en-preciosity-en-noun-ys8ahe0H
  3. (obsolete, uncountable) The quality of being precious (of high value or worth). Tags: obsolete, uncountable Synonyms: preciousness, value, worth
    Sense id: en-preciosity-en-noun-s4u2cNNN Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 44 5 49 2 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 44 4 49 3 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 45 2 51 2
  4. (obsolete, countable) Something of high value or worth. Tags: countable, obsolete Synonyms: treasure
    Sense id: en-preciosity-en-noun-iLf7zqOU
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: precious

Inflected forms

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          "text": "1916, John Cowper Powys, “Oscar Wilde” in Suspended Judgments, New York: G. Arnold Shaw, p. 416,\nThe style of Wilde is one of the simplest in existence, but its simplicity is the very apex and consummation of the artificial. He uses Biblical language with that self-conscious preciosity—like the movements of a person walking on tiptoe in the presence of the dead—which is so different from the sturdy directness of Bunyan or the restrained rhetoric of the Church of England prayers."
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          "text": "“O Father Master, is it possible! (exclaimed the Beneficiary ready to roll about the floor with laughing) is it possible that such preciosities are printed! […]”",
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          "text": "1913, John Hay Beith (as Ian Hay), Happy-Go-Lucky, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Book 3, Chapter 12, p. 151,\n“Yes, mother mine,” she replied. (Sylvia was rather addicted to little preciosities of this kind.)"
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          "ref": "1940, George Orwell, “Inside the Whale”, in Such, Such Were the Joys, New York: Harcourt, Brace, page 166:",
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          "text": "I must be forc’d to say somewhat of Margarites [i.e. pearls] themselves, and I am affraid I shall rather be struck with the deepest amazement and confusion, than be able to expresse their unspeakable worth and preciosity.",
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          "text": "[The figurehead] was covered up with tow and sacking and so hidden under pretence of safety that none might discover the secret of its intrinsic preciosity.",
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          "ref": "1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, II [Uniform ed., p. 27]",
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          "text": "That which is rare (we know) is with all Nations precious, and what is precious they love to appropriate and transferr upon themselves as near as they can […]. So if there be any thing more costly then another, they will hang it on their Bodies […], such as their Ear-rings and Jewells. But these Barbarians seem to exceed them in the curiositie of their application of these Preciosities, they fully implanting them into their very Flesh, as if they were part of their natural Body.",
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          "text": "‘[…] the Pope […] had to send him a valuable Gift, which you may see some day.’ Nüssler did, one day, see this preciosity: a Crucifix, ebony bordered with gold, and the Body all of that metal, on the smallest of altars, in Walrave’s bedroom.",
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Download raw JSONL data for preciosity meaning in All languages combined (7.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.