Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Pleasing to the senses, especially in a subtle way: a delicate flavor; a delicate violin passage.
- adj. Exquisitely fine or dainty: delicate china.
- adj. Frail in constitution or health.
- adj. Easily broken or damaged: a kite too delicate to fly.
- adj. Marked by sensitivity of discrimination: a critic's delicate perception.
- adj. Considerate of the feelings of others.
- adj. Concerned with propriety.
- adj. Squeamish or fastidious.
- adj. Requiring tactful treatment: a delicate situation.
- adj. Fine or soft in touch or skill: a surgeon's delicate touch.
- adj. Measuring, indicating, or responding to very small changes; precise: a delicate set of scales.
- adj. Very subtle in difference or distinction.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Pleasing to any of the senses, especially to the sense of taste; dainty; delicious: opposed to coarse or rough.
- Agreeable; delightful; charming.
- Fine in characteristic details; minutely perfect in kind; exquisite in form, proportions, finish, texture, manner, or the like; nice; dainty; charming: as, a delicate being; a delicate skin or fabric; delicate tints.
- Of a fine or refined constitution; refined.
- Nice in construction or operation; exquisitely adjusted or adapted; minutely accurate or suitable: as, a delicate piece of mechanism; a delicate balance or spring.
- Requiring nicety in action; to be approached or performed with caution; precarious; ticklish: as, a delicate surgical operation; a delicate topic of conversation.
- Nice in perception or action; exquisitely acute or dexterous; finely sensitive or exact; deft: as, a delicate touch; a delicate performer or performance.
- Nice in forms; regulated by minute observance of propriety, or by attention to the opinions and feelings of others; refined: as, delicate behavior or manners; a delicate address.
- Susceptible to disease or injury; of a tender constitution; feeble; not able to endure hardship: as, a delicate frame or constitution; delicate health.
- Nice in perception of what is agreeable to the senses or the intellect; peculiarly sensitive to beauty, harmony, or their opposites; dainty; fastidious: as, a delicate taste; a delicate eye for color.
- Full of pleasure; luxurious; sumptuous; delightful.
- Synonyms Pleasant, delicious, palatable, savory. Fastidious, discriminating. Sensitive.
- n. Something savory, luscious, or delicious; a delicacy; a dainty.
- n. A fastidious person.
Wiktionary
- adj. Easily damaged or requiring careful handling.
- adj. Characterized by a fine structure or thin lines.
- adj. Intended for use with fragile items.
- adj. Of weak health, easily sick.
- adj. informal Unwell, especially because of having drunk too much alcohol.
- n. A delicate item of clothing, especially underwear or lingerie.
- n. obsolete A choice dainty; a delicacy.
- n. obsolete A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. rare Addicted to pleasure; luxurious; voluptuous; alluring.
- adj. Pleasing to the senses; refinedly agreeable; hence, adapted to please a nice or cultivated taste; nice; fine; elegant.
- adj. Slight and shapely; lovely; graceful.”
- adj. Fine or slender; minute; not coarse; -- said of a thread, or the like.
- adj. Slight or smooth; light and yielding; -- said of texture.
- adj. Soft and fair; -- said of the skin or a surface
- adj. Light, or softly tinted; -- said of a color.
- adj. Refined; gentle; scrupulous not to trespass or offend; considerate; -- said of manners, conduct, or feelings
- adj. Tender; not able to endure hardship; feeble; frail; effeminate; -- said of constitution, health, etc.
- adj. Requiring careful handling; not to be rudely or hastily dealt with; nice; critical.
- adj. Of exacting tastes and habits; dainty; fastidious.
- adj. Nicely discriminating or perceptive; refinedly critical; sensitive; exquisite.
- adj. Affected by slight causes; showing slight changes.
- n. rare A choice dainty; a delicacy.
- n. A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. difficult to handle; requiring great tact
- adj. exquisitely fine and subtle and pleasing; susceptible to injury
- adj. of an instrument or device; capable of registering minute differences or changes precisely
- adj. developed with extreme delicacy and subtlety
- adj. marked by great skill especially in meticulous technique
- adj. easily hurt
- adj. easily broken or damaged or destroyed
Etymologies
- From Middle English delicat, from Latin delicatus ("giving pleasure, delightful, soft, luxurious, delicate, in Medieval Latin also fine, slender"), from delicia, usually in plural deliciae ("pleasure, delight, luxury"), from delicere ("to allure"), from de ("away") + lacere ("to allure, entice"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English delicat and French délicat, both from Latin dēlicātus, pleasing; akin to dēlicia, pleasure; see delicious. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“All fine colouring, like fine drawing, is _delicate_; and so delicate that if, at last, you”
“It's interesting to note Fisher's use of the term "delicate balance" in reference to Tennessee Williams.”
“The General prides himself on what he calls delicate irony.”
“French have a high value for them; and I confess, they are often what they call delicate, when they are introduced with judgment; but Chaucer writ with more simplicity, and followed nature more closely, than to use them.”
“That is what I call a delicate attention, dear master, and I thank you very much for it.”
“It need not be, it ought not, I think, to be, a book specifically on what one calls delicate questions, that would be throwing them up in just the way one does not want them thrown up; it should be a sort of rationalized and not too technical handbook of physiological instruction in the College Library -- or at home.”
“It need not be, it ought not, I think, to be, a book specifically on what one calls delicate questions, that would be throwing them up in just the way one does not want them thrown up; it should be a sort of rationalized and not too technical handbook of physiological instruction in the College”
“The Air France statement says further work is necessary on what it calls the "delicate issue of human-machine interface.”
“The French have a high value for them; and I confess, they are often what they call delicate, when they are introduced with judgment; but Chaucer writ with more simplicity, and followed nature more closely, than to use them.”
Prefaces and Prologues to Famous Books with Introductions, Notes and Illustrations
“Sponsors spent most of the debate in the Senate tiptoeing past land mines they said would blow up the bill, which they described as a delicate compromise between medical-pot businesses, law enforcement groups and local governments - all of which have parts of the bill they dislike.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘delicate’.
-
grade 3
ability, absorb, act, tive, actual, adopt, advantage, ambition, ancient, arrange, arctic, attitude and 125 more...
-
CULI - wine-tasting adjectives
In this area of expertise nouns are frequently used as adjectives (almond, bacon, cider, diesel, fennel, fresh-cut hay, wool) or new adjectives are formed (appley, berrylike, citrusy, full-bodied, ...
acetic, acidic, aged, angular, appley, astringent, attractive, austere, berrylike, big, bitter, brawny and 511 more...
-
Beautiful and Ugly
Beautiful, attractive, well-formed
Ugly, unattractive, malformedadorable, alluring, angelic, appealing, appetizing, attractive, beaming, beauteous, beautiful, becoming, beguiling, bewitching and 180 more...
-
Describing the Taste of Foods
yummy, zesty, piquant, pungent, sharp, spicy, poignant, delicious, ambrosial, appetizing, delectable, heavenly and 194 more...
-
Fairylike
fairylike, enchanted, pixieish, pixyish, impish, mischievous, fluttery, magical, bewitching, enchanting, fey, otherworldly and 126 more...
-
The Universal Calculator
Obviates the need for other devices or calculations--it will have a button for everything, and it will solve everything.
qwerty keyboard, shift key, control, home, end, pause, log, sin, space, enter, plus, numb and 241 more...
-
ghost
This is Ghost List 2 ( the kind that go 'boo!' ) :P
( open list )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/macabrephantom, spectral, specter, spectre, spooky, poltergeist, haunt, spirit, banshee, cryptic, shadow, phantasm and 311 more...
-
Ayumi G3
Ability, absorb, accuse, act, active, actual, adopt, advantage, advice, ambition, ancient, approach and 128 more...
-
POL - campaign tokenisms
Positive words and vague promises. THE words and expressions to use when you want to win over the masses or just don't know what to say.
"CAPITAL" stands for the administrative capital...deserve, deserve better, destiny, determination, determine, determine the wil..., dialogue, differentiation, difficult question, disappointments, diverse, diversity and 751 more...
-
The Pain of Texting
Words that are a pain in the ass to type in on a numerical keypad on a cell phone because they have consecutive letters that share the same button:
2 - ABC
3 - DEF
4 - GHI...defcon, hi, no, attitude, xylophone, on, monday, monkey, mono, dig, back, babble and 212 more...
-
captaincloud's list
word up!
shoji, beautiful, delicate, friscalating, neoligism, nature, nurture, random, frisky, love, clouds, word and 3 more...
-
sophasaurus's list
tactile, facilitate, optimum, balk, release, drastic, galore, corrosive, bedevilments, fierce, deliberate, potential and 13 more...
-
Her
beautiful, lovely, magnificent, exquisite, marvelous, charming, delicate, delightful, elegant, divine, resplendant, radiant and 6 more...
-
♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
-
favored
visceral, twinkle, whalebone, incandescent, carousel, entangle, brevity, desolate, twirl, deltoid, graceless, tryst and 94 more...
-
Words
My list of words.
veritable, facetious, nadir, quixotic, apropos, acquiesce, ostensible, insipid, egregious, inveterate, coax, adroit and 409 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for delicate.
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.