Definition of "preciosity"
preciosity
noun
countable and uncountable, plural preciosities
(usually derogatory, uncountable) The quality of being overly refined in an affected way (often used to describe speech or writing, but also visual art and dress).
Quotations
It is […] a section of society where everybody talks and poses, where pedantry masquerades as knowledge, sentimentality as sentiment, and preciosity as delicacy and refinement;
1914, Edouard Pailleron, translated by Barrett H. Clark and Hilmar Baukhage, The Art of Being Bored, New York: Samuel French, act I, page 6
The style of Wilde is one of the simplest in existence, but its simplicity is the very apex and consummation of the artificial. He uses Biblical language with that self-conscious preciosity—like the movements of a person walking on tiptoe in the presence of the dead—which is so different from the sturdy directness of Bunyan or the restrained rhetoric of the Church of England prayers.
1916, John Cowper Powys, “Oscar Wilde” in Suspended Judgments, New York: G. Arnold Shaw, p. 416
(usually derogatory, countable) An instance of preciosity; something that is overly refined in an affected way.
Quotations
“O Father Master, is it possible! (exclaimed the Beneficiary ready to roll about the floor with laughing) is it possible that such preciosities are printed! […] ”
1772, José Francisco de Isla, translated by Thomas Nugent, The History of the Famous Preacher Friar Gerund de Campazas, London: T. Davies and W. Flexney, Volume 2, Book 6, Chapter 2, p. 471
A book like Tropic of Cancer, published at such a time, must be either a tedious preciosity or something unusual, and I think a majority of the people who have read it would agree that it is not the first.
1940, George Orwell, “Inside the Whale”, in Such, Such Were the Joys, New York: Harcourt, Brace, page 166
(obsolete, uncountable) The quality of being precious (of high value or worth).
Quotations
I must be forc’d to say somewhat of Margarites [i.e. pearls] themselves, and I am affraid I shall rather be struck with the deepest amazement and confusion, than be able to expresse their unspeakable worth and preciosity.
1654, Michael Maier, “The Oyster”, in John Hall, transl., Lusus Serius, or, Serious Passe-Time, London: Humphrey Moseley, pages 38–39
(obsolete, countable) Something of high value or worth.
Quotations
That which is rare (we know) is with all Nations precious, and what is precious they love to appropriate and transferr upon themselves as near as they can […] . So if there be any thing more costly then another, they will hang it on their Bodies […] , such as their Ear-rings and Jewells. But these Barbarians seem to exceed them in the curiositie of their application of these Preciosities, they fully implanting them into their very Flesh, as if they were part of their natural Body.
1668, Henry More, Divine Dialogues, London: James Flesher, Dialogue 3, pages 374–375
‘ […] the Pope […] had to send him a valuable Gift, which you may see some day.’ Nüssler did, one day, see this preciosity: a Crucifix, ebony bordered with gold, and the Body all of that metal, on the smallest of altars, in Walrave’s bedroom.
1858, Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II of Prussia, New York: Harper, published 1862, Volume 2, Book 13, Chapter 12, p. 437