Advertisement

Advertisement

semiprecious

[ sem-ee-presh-uhs, sem-ahy- ]

adjective

  1. (of a stone) having commercial value as a gem but not classified as precious, as the amethyst or garnet.


semiprecious

/ ˌsɛmɪˈprɛʃəs /

adjective

  1. (of certain stones) having commercial value, but less than a precious stone
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of semiprecious1

First recorded in 1885–90; semi- + precious
Discover More

Example Sentences

Four months after the British Museum fired a curator suspected of stealing gems, jewelry and semiprecious stones, the London institution on Tuesday released further information about the fate of the missing items.

Addressing a British parliamentary committee on Wednesday, Mark Jones, the museum’s interim director, said that inventory failures contributed to the theft of about 2,000 artifacts, including gems, semiprecious stones and glass items.

Other discoveries included semiprecious stones such as amber from the Baltics and lapis lazuli and carnelian from Mesopotamia and the northern Levant, according to Fischer.

It’s not as valuable as other crowns, for it’s set with mostly semiprecious stones.

Down the drain is where British archaeologists recently discovered 36 artfully engraved semiprecious stones, in an ancient bathhouse at the site of a Roman fort near Hadrian’s Wall in Carlisle, England.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


semipostalsemiprecious stone