precious

I UK [ˈpreʃəs] / US adjective **

1) worth a lot of money

a precious jewel

historic houses with rare and precious contents

a) loved or valued by someone

a precious memory

Her daughter is the most precious thing in the world to her.

b) rare or very necessary and not to be wasted

Human skills are the nation's most precious resource.

We're wasting precious time sitting around here!

2) [only before noun] spoken used for showing that you are angry with someone for caring too much about someone or something

You and your precious husband did nothing for me.

3) behaving as if something is more important or serious than it really is

Pop stars used to be a lot less precious about advertising products.

II UK [ˈpreʃəs] / US adverb

precious little/few — used for emphasizing how little there is of something

I've had precious little sleep over the last two days.

There are precious few decent restaurants left around here.