Lewis & Short

Parsing inflected forms may not always work as expected. If the following does not give the correct word, try Latin Words or Perseus.

prĕtĭōsē, adv., v. pretiosus fin.

prĕtĭōsus, a, um, adj. [pretium], of great value, valuable, precious.

  1. I. Lit.: equus, Cic. Off. 3, 23, 89: odores, Col. 3, 8, 4: subiitque argentea proles Auro deterior, fulvo pretiosior aere, Ov. M. 1, 115: ingenium quondam fuerat pretiosius auro, id. Am. 3, 8, 3: res pretiosissimae (opp. vilissimae), Cic. Fin. 2, 28, 91; Plin. 11, 37, 52, § 139: pretiosissimum humani animi opus, id. 7, 29, 30, § 108: nec tamen haec loca sunt ullo pretiosa metallo, rich in, Ov. P. 3, 8, 5.
  2. II. Transf.
    1. A. Of great cost, costly, dear, expensive: operaria, Plaut. Bacch. 1, 1, 41: qui sordido vehiculo erubescit, pretioso gloriabitur, Sen. Ep. 87, 4: Thais, Prop. 4 (5), 5, 43: pretioso pretio emere aliquid, dear, high, Plaut. Ep. 1, 2, 17: fames, which is satisfied at much expense, Mart. 10 96, 9: silentia, dearly bought, id. 5, 69, 7: Albani veteris pretiosa senectus, Juv. 13, 214.
    2. B. That gives a great price, extravagant: pretiosus emptor, Hor. C. 3, 6, 32.
      Hence, adv.: prĕtĭōsē, in a costly manner, expensively, richly, splendidly (class.): vasa pretiose caelata, Cic. Inv. 2, 40, 116: pretiose armatus exercitus, Gell. 5, 5, 5: pretiosius sepeliri, Curt. 10, 1, 32.