different between copious vs precious

English

Etymology

From Middle English copious, from Latin copiosus, copia (“abundance”), from co- + ops (“wealth”) + -osus (“full of”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?ko?pi.?s/
• Rhymes: -??pi?s

Adjective

copious (comparative more copious, superlative most copious)

1. Vast in quantity or number, profuse, abundant; taking place on a large scale.
   • 1748. David Hume. Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. Section 3. § 18.

     These loose hints I have thrown together, in order to excite the curiosity of philosophers, and beget a suspicion at least, if not a full persuasion, that this subject is very copious,

2. Having an abundant supply.
3. Full of thought, information, or matter; exuberant in words, expression, or style.

Derived terms

• copiously
• copiousness

Translations

References

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.