precious
- adverb
- /ˈprɛʃəs/
- Informal
:
muy poco
- But we've gotten precious few details, Amela, out of the White House or the press on this.
So I don't move through the world with precious few exceptions, being like, I got this.
- So I don't move through the world with precious few exceptions, being like, I got this.
- You might find in your life that precious few people ever ask you for genuine insight into their process or their thing.
Examples
-
He gave precious little information about the project, leaving everyone confused.
-
I don't know, but we've gotten precious few details, Amela, out of the White House or the press on this.
-
Like I said, I there are precious few books that so line up perfectly with what I have experienced.
-
There are precious few opportunities to travel during the holidays.
-
In this job market, there are precious few positions available for recent graduates.
Synonyms
1
9.9
To show that there is very little
Antonyms
Idioms
Compounds
1
3.6
A stone like amethyst or turquoise used in jewelry that costs less than diamonds
A hard red or pink stony skeleton from Mediterranean sea animals used for jewelry
How Intense
Surface Forms
Morphology
precious = preci + ous
As an intensifying adverbial use ('precious little'), the meaning is idiomatic and not transparently derivable from the morphemic parts for most learners.
Etymology
Precious comes from the Latin word pretium meaning 'price' and the same root as price; in phrases like 'precious little' the word adds strong feeling — a helpful way to remember is to think 'so rare or small that it is almost none', so it means 'very little' or 'almost none'.