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/dɪr/ Listen

adjective

Dear adj. (compar. dearer; superl. dearest)

Bearing a high price; high-priced; costly; expensive. "The cheapest of us is ten groats too dear."

Marked by scarcity or dearth, and exorbitance of price; as, a dear year.

Highly valued; greatly beloved; cherished; precious. "Hear me, dear lady." "Neither count I my life dear unto myself." "And the last joy was dearer than the rest." "Dear as remember'd kisses after death."

Hence, close to the heart; heartfelt; present in mind; engaging the attention.

(a)

Of agreeable things and interests. "(I'll) leave you to attend him: some dear cause Will in concealment wrap me up awhile." "His dearest wish was to escape from the bustle and glitter of Whitehall."

(b)

Of disagreeable things and antipathies. "In our dear peril." "Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven Or ever I had seen that day."

noun

Dear n. A dear one; lover; sweetheart. "That kiss I carried from thee, dear."

adverb

Dear adv. Dearly; at a high price. "If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear."

verb

Dear v. t. To endear. (Obs.)

See images of 'Dear'

Etymology of 'Dear'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Dear" Quotes from Famous Books

... dear, good Stephen, may all be forever buried which has for so long kept us apart. I have torn your heart I know. The agitation that you must constantly have noticed in me has punished me enough. It was not malice that prompted ...

— Beethoven • George Alexander Fischer

... "My dear chap!" he insisted, "I can't think of it. Surely—there's nothing to call you away." Then with an evident desire to shift the venue of our talk, he asked, "You never told me what you thought of ...

— In the Days of the Comet • H. G. Wells

... father said to me, and as much as the teacher beat me, it was all rubbish to me when I came home, and had the pleasure of seeing my one and only dear friend—my little knife. The pleasure was, alas! mixed with pain, and embittered by ...

— Jewish Children • Sholem Naumovich Rabinovich

... know anything about it, my dear sir. Your friends, the rebels, are burning all the cotton they can find, and I confiscate the ...

— Lincoln's Yarns and Stories • Alexander K. McClure

... caused them little grief. Having extinguished the flames, they all lay down to finish off the night under a neighbouring tree, and even its architect became so oblivious of what had occurred that he employed the remainder of his slumbering hours in dreaming of the home in old England, and of that dear mother whose last letter was still carefully guarded in the pocket of the coat that covered ...

— The Crew of the Water Wagtail • R.M. Ballantyne

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