precious

precioso, valioso

Que vale mucho dinero o es especialmente útil e importante.

En inglés sencillo: Worth a lot of money, or very useful and important.

• Gold is a precious metal.
• Do not waste precious water.
• The delay cost us precious time.

Sinónimos: valuable

Antónimos: worthless

Expresiones frecuentes: precious metal, precious stones, precious time

querido, preciado

Muy importante para alguien por el cariño que le tiene.

En inglés sencillo: Very dear to someone because they love or care about it.

• That photo is precious to me.
• We shared some precious moments together.
• She kept every precious letter from her father.

Cómo se usa: precious to someone (These memories are precious to us.)

Sinónimos: dear, cherished, beloved

Expresiones frecuentes: precious memories, precious moments, precious to someone

celoso, susceptible

Que no tolera que otros cambien o critiquen algo que aprecia, a menudo de forma exagerada.

En inglés sencillo: Unwilling to let others change or criticize something you care about, often more than seems reasonable.

• He is precious about his recipes.
• Do not be too precious about your first draft.
• She became less precious about her work over time.

Cómo se usa: precious about something (The designer is very precious about her drawings.)

Sinónimos: overprotective, possessive

Expresiones frecuentes: precious about something, too precious, rather precious

completo, auténtico

Refuerza una descripción negativa para indicar que alguien o algo lo es por completo.

En inglés sencillo: Complete or total, used to give extra force to a negative description.

• You are a precious fool!
• That precious rascal has taken my hat again.
• What precious nonsense he talks!

Sinónimos: complete, utter

Expresiones frecuentes: precious fool, precious rascal, precious nonsense

muy, sumamente

Intensifica una cualidad; suele acompañar palabras que indican escasez para destacar lo poco que hay.

En inglés sencillo: Very; often used before words meaning a small amount to stress how little there is.

• We have precious little time.
• Precious few people knew the answer.
• There was precious little left to eat.

Sinónimos: very, extremely

Expresiones frecuentes: precious little, precious few