delicate — English Dictionary

Adjective

1. Easily damaged or requiring careful handling.

   Examples

   Those clothes are made from delicate lace.

   The negotiations were very delicate.

   More examples (3)

   There are some things too delicate and too sacred to be handled rudely without injury to truth.

   Indeed, the frosty god conspired with it for our delight; building crystal bridges, with tracery of lace delicater than Valenciennes, and spangled string-pieces, and fretted vaultings, whimsical sierras, stalactite and stalagmite.

   The final vote between Hollande and Sarkozy now depends on a delicate balance of how France's total of rightwing and leftwing voters line up.

2. Characterized by a fine structure or thin lines.

   Examples

   Her face was delicate.

   The spider wove a delicate web.

   More examples (2)

   There was a delicate pattern of frost on the window.

   You crush a delicate moth wing I see the stain on your fingertips

3. Intended for use with fragile items.

   Examples

   Set the washing machine to the delicate cycle.

4. Refined; gentle; scrupulous not to trespass or offend; considerate; said of manners, conduct, or feelings.

   Examples

   delicate behaviour

   delicate attentions

   More examples (2)

   delicate thoughtfulness

   Jill had, as you might say quite fallen in love with the Unicorn. She thought—and she wasn’t far wrong—that he was the shiningest, delicatest, most graceful animal she had ever met: and he was so gentle and soft of speech that, if you hadn’t known, you would hardly have believed how fierce and terrible he could be in battle.

5. Of weak health; easily sick; unable to endure hardship.

   Examples

   a delicate child

   delicate health

   More examples (1)

   [E]xamples groſſe as earth exhort me, / Witnes this Army of ſuch maſſe and charge, / Led by a delicate and tender Prince, / Whoſe ſpirit with diuine ambition puft, / Makes mouthes at the inviſible euent, / Expoſing what is mortall, and vnſure, / To all that fortune, death, and danger dare, / Euen for an Egge-ſhell.

6. Unwell, especially because of having drunk too much alcohol.

   Usage

   • Informal

   Examples

   Please don't speak so loudly: I'm feeling a bit delicate this morning.

7. Addicted to pleasure; luxurious; voluptuous; alluring.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

   Examples

   This [Haarlem] is a very delicate towne, and hath one of the fairest Churches, of the Gotiq design, I had seene.

8. Pleasing to the senses; refined; adapted to please an elegant or cultivated taste.

   Examples

   a delicate dish

   delicate flavour

   More examples (3)

   [A]mong Chꝛiſten men there haue been now a greate whyle not a fewe, whych haue thought that it is a true faſte, if vpon certaine dayes they abſtayne only from the fleſhe of fowle, and foure footed beaſtes, thoughe in the meane ceaſon they dilitiouſly fede them ſelues with the fleſhe of fiſthes, and other meates much coſtlier, and delicater, than the commune vſe of fleſhe is.

   The Fleſh of man, becauſe its Nouriſhed by purer Blood, is delicater than the fleſh of other Creatures, and prefered before it by Canibals, or Man-Eaters.

   They would give up ideas of gentle living, of soft raiment, and delicate feeding.

9. Slight and shapely; lovely; graceful.

   Examples

   Caſ[ſio]. She is a moſt exquiſite Lady. […] Indeede ſhe is a moſt freſh and delicate creature.

10. Light, or softly tinted; said of a colour.

    Examples

    a delicate shade of blue

11. Of exacting tastes and habits; dainty; fastidious.

12. Highly discriminating or perceptive; refinedly critical; sensitive; exquisite.

    Examples

    a delicate taste

    a delicate ear for music

13. Affected by slight causes; showing slight changes.

    Examples

    a delicate thermometer

Noun

1. A delicate item of clothing, especially underwear or lingerie.

   Examples

   Don't put that in with your jeans: it's a delicate!

2. A choice dainty; a delicacy.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

   Examples

   With Abstinence all Delicates he Sees, / And can regale himself with Toast and Cheese.

3. A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   A council of war was called, and the delicates met in the great cabin ; the platform was rigged up on the forecastle, the yard-rope rove, and the signal made for all boats to attend execution

   If Lucullus were not a waster and a delicate given to belly-cheare.

4. A moth of the species Mythimna vitellina.

Adjective

1. exquisitely fine and subtle and pleasing; susceptible to injury

   Antonyms

   rugged

   Examples

   a delicate violin passage

   delicate china

   More examples (2)

   a delicate flavor

   the delicate wing of a butterfly

2. marked by great skill especially in meticulous technique

   Examples

   a surgeon's delicate touch

3. easily broken or damaged or destroyed

   Synonyms

   fragilefrail

   Examples

   a kite too delicate to fly safely

   fragile porcelain plates

   More examples (2)

   fragile old bones

   a frail craft

4. easily hurt

   Synonyms

   soft

   Examples

   soft hands

   a baby's delicate skin

5. developed with extreme delicacy and subtlety

   Synonyms

   finespun

   Examples

   the satire touches with finespun ridicule every kind of human pretense

6. difficult to handle; requiring great tact

   Synonyms

   ticklishtouchy

   Examples

   delicate negotiations with the big powers

   hesitates to be explicit on so ticklish a matter

   More examples (1)

   a touchy subject

7. of an instrument or device; capable of registering minute differences or changes precisely

   Examples

   almost undetectable with even the most delicate instruments