Precious vs Generous - What's the difference?
precious | generous | Related terms |
Of high value or worth, or seemingly regarded as such.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-16, author=(Polly Toynbee)
, volume=189, issue=10, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= Regarded with love or tenderness.
(pejorative) Treated with too much reverence.
(pejorative) Contrived to be cute or charming.
* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 24, author=Nathan Rabin, work=The Onion AV Club
, title= Someone (or something) who is loved; a darling.
* J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
* 1909 , Mrs. Teignmouth Shore, The Pride of the Graftons (page 57)
(obsolete) Of noble birth.
Noble in behaviour or actions; principled, not petty; kind, magnanimous.
Willing to give and share unsparingly; showing a readiness to give more (especially money) than is expected or needed.
Large, more than ample, copious.
As adjectives the difference between precious and generous
is that precious is of high value or worth, or seemingly regarded as such while generous is of noble birth.As a noun precious
is someone (or something) who is loved; a darling.As an adverb precious
is Used as an intensifier.As a proper noun Precious
is {{surname|from=nicknames|lang=en}}, originating as a male or female nickname.precious
English
Alternative forms
* pretious (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)Britain's booming birthrate, passage=People are a good thing, the most precious resource in a rich economy, so the progressive-minded feel. Only misanthropists disagree or the dottier Malthusians who send green-ink tweets deploring any state assistance for child-rearing.}}
Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3, passage=In the abstract, Stuhlbarg’s twinkly-eyed sidekick suggests Joe Pesci in Lethal Weapon 2 by way of late-period Robin Williams with an alien twist, but Stuhlbarg makes a character that easily could have come across as precious into a surprisingly palatable, even charming man.}}
Synonyms
* (of high value) dear, valuable * (contrived to charm) saccharine, syrupy, tweeNoun
(es)- “It isn't fair, my precious , is it, to ask us what it's got in its nassty little pocketses?”
- She sat down with the dogs in her lap. "I won't neglect you for any one, will I, my preciouses ?"
Adverb
(-)- There is precious little we can do.
External links
* (wikipedia "precious")generous
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- Thank you for your generous words.
- She's been extremely generous with her winnings.