priceless
Part of speech: adj
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: From price + -less (“lacking, without”).
Base: price
Affixes: -less
Inflected forms:
form: more priceless
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most priceless
pos: adj
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: Without a price assigned; unpriced.
pos: adj
tags: literally
not-comparable
rare
gloss: So precious as not to be obtainable or sold at any price.
pos: adj
tags: broadly
literally
not-comparable
examples: For he the night before in Tarquins Tent, / Vnlockt the treaſure of his happie ſtate: / VVhat priſeleſſe vvealth the heauens had him lent, / In the poſſeſſion of his beauteous mate.
Shall giue Theodoret to vnderſtand, / His ignorance of the prizeleſſe Ievvell, vvhich / He did poſſeſſe in you, mother in you, […]
Tutor of Athens! he, in every Street, / Dealt priceleſs Treaſure: Goodneſs his Delight, / VViſdom his VVealth, and Glory his Revvard.
Mario told me of a hotel in which he had been, where a chambermaid stole a priceless diamond ring from an American lady. […] The chambermaid had a lover in the bakery, and he had baked the ring into a roll, where it lay unsuspected until the search was over.
DeepMind, the British company discussed in chapter 2, was sold to Google for £400 million in 2014 without even a golden share for government. It is now priceless, almost certainly not for sale at any price.
This trend reached its logical end in an op-ed by Paul Krugman, who flatly debunked the truism that human life was "priceless". The statistical cost of life was calculated all the time in transportation and environmental policy, he said: it was roughly $10 million.
The French interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, visited the scene and told France Inter radio that “priceless” jewels “of unmeasurable heritage value” were stolen after what was clearly a well-organised raid.
gloss: Of no value; valueless; worthless.
pos: adj
tags: archaic
broadly
literally
not-comparable
examples: VVhen ſome ſhall ſay, Faire once my Silvia vvas; / Thou vvilt complaine, Falſe novv's thy Looking-glaſſe: / VVhich renders that quite tarniſht vvᶜʰ vvas green, / And Priceleſs novv, vvhat Peerleſs once had been: / Upon thy Forme more vvrinkles yet vvill fall, / And comming dovvne, ſhall make no noise at all.
[H]e thought of his late friendship with anger and held it cheap, a priceless imitation for which perhaps he had given a pure jewel in stupid exchange.
gloss: Held in high regard; treasured.
pos: adj
tags: comparable
figuratively
examples: I do not hope that any love and duty I may render in return, will ever make me worthy of your priceless confidence; […]
If we part I shall be tormented by remorse at not having married. If we marry I shall spend my life mentally kicking myself for having so carelessly given up priceless liberty.
Alan Pardew's current squad has been put together with a relatively low budget but the resolve and unity within the team is priceless.
gloss: Absurd; ridiculous.
pos: adj
tags: comparable
figuratively
informal
examples: “You son of a bitch,” she exploded. “You talk. You, of all people. You. That’s priceless.”
Where the concrete approach of the realistic nationalists eventually led them is illustrated by the priceless story of how Charles Maurras had “the honor and pleasure,” after the defeat of France, of falling in during his flight to the south with a female astrologer who interpreted to him the political meaning of recent events and advised him to collaborate with the Nazis.
“Duty, har, har,” Simon laughed, as if some laughing machine had been wound up inside him. “Laura would love that. Jesus, that’s priceless; he’s good on propaganda. Duty! God, Laura will love that when she comes.”
gloss: Very amusing; hilarious.
pos: adj
tags: comparable
figuratively
informal
examples: Paul laughed heartily and said she was priceless, but Hannah remained so contritely straight-faced that his laughter sounded to himself as if it had just a trace of incipient madness in it, and he suddenly sobered, blinking rapidly.
Hell, those jacks was laughing and laughing like to wet themselves. Even Ernst had a smile on his face, shaking his head like he ain’t believed what he just seen. ‘Aw, Sid,’ Chip gasped. ‘Holy hell, Sid, you priceless.’
gloss: Excellent; fantastic; wonderful.
pos: adj
tags: comparable
figuratively
informal
ironic
often
examples: “And have you had a lovely evening?” / “Oh, priceless,” I said.
Hey! Wait! I got a new complaint / Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Synonyms: invaluable
precious
priceless
unpriced
unvaluable
without price
worth one's weight in gold
Antonyms: cheap
worthless
Related words: costless
incomparable
unbuyable
unpriceable
Derived words: pricelessly
pricelessness
Translations: