preciosity
Excessive stylistic fussiness
Preciosity is excessive refinement in language, art, or manner—an affected delicacy that calls attention to itself.
The word carries disapproval: what aims for elegance becomes overwrought or pretentious.
The novel's preciosity—all those ornate metaphors—exhausted me by page fifty.
A related but softer word is preciousness, which can simply mean great value.
Showy self-importance
- artificialityState of being contrived
- mannerismDistinctive personal habit
- posturingInsincere behavior for effect
- pomposityExaggerated sense of importance
airs · affectedness · stiltedness · foppishness · insincerity · theatricality · exaggeration · overrefinement
Refined, graceful quality
- sophisticationCultured elegance and complexity
- delicacyRefined sensitivity or rarity
- finesseSubtle, deft handling
- subtletyFine distinction, easily missed
exquisiteness · polish · cultivation · taste · discernment · daintiness · fastidiousness · nicety
pretentiousness
Showy self-importance
- artificialityState of being contrived
- mannerismDistinctive personal habit
- posturingInsincere behavior for effect
pomposity · airs · affectedness · stiltedness · foppishness · insincerity · theatricality · exaggeration · overrefinement · euphuism
elegance
Refined, graceful quality
- sophisticationCultured elegance and complexity
- delicacyRefined sensitivity or rarity
- finesseSubtle, deft handling
subtlety · exquisiteness · polish · cultivation · taste · discernment · daintiness · fastidiousness · nicety · discriminating
preciosityplainspokenness
Unadorned directness in speech
bluntness · directness · forthrightness · plainness · simplicity
preciositynaturalness
Unaffected, uncontrived quality
artlessness · unaffectedness · genuineness · sincerity · spontaneity
preciosityrawness
Unrefined or exposed state
roughness · coarseness · crudeness · rusticity · robustness
prize, price, precious, appreciate, depreciate, preciousness, preciously, precious stone, semi-precious