different between praise vs precious

English

Etymology

From Middle English praisen, preisen, borrowed from Old French proisier, preisier (“to value, prize”), from Late Latin preti? (“to value, prize”) from pretium (“price, worth, reward”). See prize. Displaced native Middle English lofen, loven (“to praise”) (from Old English lofian, compare Middle English and Old English lof (“praise”), see love, lofe, loff), Middle English herien (“to praise, glorify, celebrate”) (from Old English herian), Middle English rosen (“to praise, glorify”) (from Old Norse hrósa).

Pronunciation

• enPR: pr?z, IPA^(key): /p?e?z/
• Rhymes: -e?z
• Homophones: prays, preys

Noun

praise (countable and uncountable, plural praises)

1. commendation; favourable representation in words

2. worship

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:praise

Antonyms

• blame
• criticize
• See Thesaurus:praise

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

praise (third-person singular simple present praises, present participle praising, simple past and past participle praised)

1. To give praise to; to commend, glorify, or worship.

Antonyms

• blame

Derived terms

• overpraise
• underpraise
• unpraised

Translations

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Arispe, Parise, Pearis, Persia, aspire, paires, paries, spirea

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

praise f

1. genitive singular of prais

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.