What's the difference between dear and precious?

Dear


Definition:

  • (superl.) Bearing a high price; high-priced; costly; expensive.
  • (superl.) Marked by scarcity or dearth, and exorbitance of price; as, a dear year.
  • (superl.) Highly valued; greatly beloved; cherished; precious.
  • (superl.) Hence, close to the heart; heartfelt; present in mind; engaging the attention.
  • (superl.) Of agreeable things and interests.
  • (superl.) Of disagreeable things and antipathies.
  • (n.) A dear one; lover; sweetheart.
  • (adv.) Dearly; at a high price.
  • (v. t.) To endear.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) David Cameron was accused of revealing his ill-suppressed Bullingdon Club instincts when he shouted at the Labour frontbencher Angela Eagle to "calm down, dear" as she berated him for misleading MPs at prime minister's questions.
  • (2) There is a heavy, leaden feeling in your chest, rather as when someone you love dearly has died; but no one has – except, perhaps, you.
  • (3) Here is my email to Dr Hansen on 18 June: Dear Mr. Hansen, Thanks for calling.
  • (4) Three dead after gunman storms Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Read more Robert Lewis Dear, a 57-year-old from North Carolina, has been named as the suspected gunman behind a standoff at a Planned Parenthood health clinic in which three people died and nine were injured .
  • (5) FULL TEXT OF THE LETTER From: Cleo Watson Date: 29 March 2016 at 13:36:03 BST To: undisclosed-recipients:; Subject: Urgent call: Doctors Dear Colleagues I hope you have had a restful Easter.
  • (6) His first film appearances had included Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Small Back Room, and the comedy Dear Mr Prohack (both 1949), the latter adapted from an Arnold Bennett novel.
  • (7) He fears that "this is a time when much that we hold dear about our profession and our NHS is deeply threatened".
  • (8) The Dear Deidre column will lose some of its sex focus to tackle more family-oriented issues at the weekend.
  • (9) The general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, Jeremy Dear, said the union would oppose cuts, with industrial action if necessary.
  • (10) May 2 1997 Labour is elected with a manifesto committed to leaving the door open for tuition fees: "the costs of student maintenance should be repaid by graduates on an income-related basis ..." July 23 1997 The Dearing report is published.
  • (11) "Dear chief secretary, I am afraid to tell you that there is no money left".
  • (12) Revolutionary forces also distributed leaflets at checkpoints leading into the city that read, "Dear Muslims, avoid God's wrath.
  • (13) The comedian Stephen Mangan called Cameron’s warning “panicky” and “daft”, while another comedian, Vikki Stone, shared a picture of herself hiding in the shed with a colander on her head and said: “Dear David Cameron I’m frightened.
  • (14) The email, beginning "dear colleagues", says the MPs' report "affords us a unique opportunity to reflect upon the mistakes we have made and further the course we have already completed to correct them.
  • (15) Dear Federal Reserve: stop waiting for the 'perfect' time to raise rates and just do it Read more These days the Fed is a lot more cautious.
  • (16) We love you.” Another starts: “Dear Polish friends, we wanted to let you know how very sorry we are to hear about the abusive messages graffitied on to your building.
  • (17) Photograph: Paula Dear Camping in Bolivia is still a low key affair but there’s a growing network of quality sites in popular areas such as Sorata , Samaipata , Coroico and La Paz.
  • (18) The Oscar-winning director, who made his National Theatre debut two years ago to much acclaim with Nick Dear's adaptation of Frankenstein , has told the Telegraph he won't be applying for the artistic director's position , which comes free in 2015.
  • (19) Songwriter Dan Bull urged BBC bosses in Dear Auntie (An Open Letter to the BBC) : "You need to appeal to the people that feel John Peel, and want to keep it real.
  • (20) Dear British public, be outraged, act, withhold your money until you can have confidence in what you consume.

Precious


Definition:

  • (a.) Of great price; costly; as, a precious stone.
  • (a.) Of great value or worth; very valuable; highly esteemed; dear; beloved; as, precious recollections.
  • (a.) Particular; fastidious; overnice.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In Tirana, Francis lauded the mutual respect and trust between Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox Christians in Albania as a "precious gift" and a powerful symbol in today's world.
  • (2) Some parents are blessed with a soul that lights up every time their little precious brings them a carefully crafted portrait or home-made greetings card.
  • (3) It didn’t come off, and Leicester emerge with the most precious of wins.
  • (4) He says there are many optimistic tales to tell – migrant families, he says, are helping to drive up standards in local schools – but such stories tend to get lost in an online world that has precious little interest in them.
  • (5) The bond strength of the specimens brazed with the non-precious alloy was largely unaffected.
  • (6) "When Lee was born the family adored him, he was a precious gift given to us."
  • (7) The song also features Tatum's Magic Mike co-star Olivia Munn and Precious actress Gabourey Sidibe – plus a cameo role for Miley Cyrus who gets trapped under a vending machine.
  • (8) Sharply escalating the sanctions regime against Tehran, the EU also froze the Iranian central bank's assets in Europe and banned gold, precious metals and diamond transactions.
  • (9) Earlier, he said in a newspaper editorial that last month's natural disasters and the nuclear crisis presented Japan with "a precious window of opportunity to secure the 'rebirth of Japan' ".
  • (10) Today, we have come to a broader and more nuanced understanding of this age-old imperative: how to better balance the development needs of a growing world population – so all may enjoy the fruits of prosperity and robust economic growth – with the necessity of conserving our planet's most precious resources: land, air and water.
  • (11) Hunt questioned what real actions arose out of the report and said that it contained far too many consultations with precious little action.
  • (12) Four pilots with "extensive experience" in transporting some of the world's most precious cargo, including white rhinos and penguins, were on the flight.
  • (13) The list of organisations to which he was prepared to give precious time was impressive, and included the Booker Prize management committee, the British Association for American Studies, the SDP arts policy committee, the Eastern Arts Association, the King's Lynn literary festival and the Norwich festival.
  • (14) Pilgrims from all over the world, many weeping and clutching precious mementos or photographs of loved ones, jostle beneath its soaring domes every day.
  • (15) He tried it in November 2014 in Belgium and, although Wales got a precious point and drew 0-0, Bale spent too long waiting for the ball that never came.
  • (16) Elaboration however is subject to operator interpretation and often eliminates precious information from the areas of interest.
  • (17) Martin Precious, 60, was a hairdresser at a high-end London salon with celebrity clients until severe depression forced him to give up his job.
  • (18) Besides that, instead of wire made, elements for support and stabilization cast of semiprecious and non-precious alloys also give much better results.
  • (19) He had been trapped in his cabin by a second explosion as he went to retrieve his precious cameras.
  • (20) St Pancras himself, of whom precious little is known, is buried in Rome, a long way from the charred and soiled remains of the 19th-century slums of Agar Town that were demolished to make way for the Midland Railway's steamy entrance into London.