True dears, awfully precious (9)
I believe the answer is:
treasured
'precious' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'true dears awfully' is the wordplay.
'awfully' indicates an anagram.
'true'+'dears'='truedears'
'truedears' with letters rearranged gives 'TREASURED'.
(Other definitions for treasured that I've seen before include "Regarded as precious" , "Valued" , "Cherished, precious" , "Valuable" , "Much-valued" .)