PRECIOSITY (2)

Pre′ci‐os″i‐ty (?), n.; pl. -ties (#). [[F. préciosité, OF. also precieuseté.]] Fastidious refinement, esp. in language; specif., the affected purism and sententiousness characteristic of the French précieuses of the 17th century. He had the fastidiousness, the preciosity, the love of archaisms, of your true decadent. L. Douglas.