different between ample vs precious

English

Etymology

From late Middle English ample, from Middle French ample, from Latin amplus (“large”), probably for ambiplus (“full on both sides”), the last syllable akin to Latin plenus (“full”).

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?æm.p?l/
• Rhymes: -æmp?l

Adjective

ample (comparative ampler, superlative amplest)

1. Large; great in size, extent, capacity, or bulk; for example spacious, roomy or widely extended.

2. Fully sufficient; abundant; plenty

3. Not contracted or brief; not concise; extended; diffusive

Synonyms

• full, spacious, extensive, wide, capacious, abundant, plentiful, plenteous, copious, bountiful; rich, liberal, munificent
• See also Thesaurus:ample
• (large): See also Thesaurus:large
• (fully sufficient): See also Thesaurus:abundant

Related terms

Translations

References

• ample in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• ample in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Maple, Palme, maple, pelma

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin amplus.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /?am.pl?/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /?am.ple/

Adjective

ample (feminine ampla, masculine and feminine plural amples)

1. wide
2. ample, plentiful

Derived terms

• amplada
• amplament
• amplària

Related terms

• ampliar

Further reading

• “ample” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “ample” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “ample” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “ample” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

From Latin amplus (“large”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??pl/

Adjective

ample (plural amples)

1. plentiful, abundant, copious, profuse, ample
2. (of clothes) loose, baggy

Further reading

• “ample” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Etymology 1

Adverb

ampl? (comparative amplius, superlative amplissim?)

1. amply, largely

Etymology 2

Adjective

ample

1. vocative masculine singular of amplus

References

• ample in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ample in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Middle English

Alternative forms

• emple

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French ample, from Old French ample, from Latin amplus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?amp?l/, /??mp?l/

Adjective

ample

1. (Late Middle English) ample, copious, profuse

Related terms

• amplifiyen

Descendants

• English: ample
• Scots: ample

References

• “ample, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-10-04.

English

Alternative forms

• pretious (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English precious, borrowed from Old French precios (“valuable, costly, precious, beloved, also affected, finical”), from Latin preti?sus (“of great value, costly, dear, precious”), from pretium (“value, price”); see price.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p????s/
• Rhymes: -???s

Adjective

precious (comparative more precious, superlative most precious)

1. Of high value or worth.

2. Regarded with love or tenderness.

3. (derogatory) Treated with too much reverence.

4. (derogatory) Contrived to be cute or charming.
5. (colloquial) Thorough; utter.

   a precious rascal

Synonyms

• (of high value): dear, valuable
• (contrived to charm): saccharine, syrupy, twee

Derived terms

• nonprecious
• precious metal
• precious stone
• preciously
• preciousness
• semiprecious

Related terms

Translations

Noun

precious (plural preciouses)

1. Someone (or something) who is loved; a darling.
   • 1937, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

     “It isn't fair, my precious, is it, to ask us what it's got in its nassty little pocketses?”

   • 1909, Mrs. Teignmouth Shore, The Pride of the Graftons (page 57)

     She sat down with the dogs in her lap. "I won't neglect you for any one, will I, my preciouses?"

Adverb

precious (not comparable)

1. Very; an intensifier.

   There is precious little we can do.

   precious few pictures of him exist

Usage notes

This adverb is chiefly used before few and little; usage with other adjectives (slight, small, scant) is much more sporadic, and is in any case limited to the semantic field of “little, small, scarce, few”.

Translations

Further reading

• precious on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Further reading

• precious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• precious in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.