Delicate

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈdÉ›lɪkÉ™t/

Origin

From Middle English delicat, from Latin delicatus, from delicia, usually in plural deliciae ("pleasure, delight, luxury"), from delicere ("to allure"), from de ("away") + lacere ("to allure, entice").

Full definition of delicate

Adjective

1. Easily damaged or requiring careful handling.Those clothes are made from delicate lace.The negotiations were very delicate.
• F. W. RobertsonThere are some things too delicate and too sacred to be handled rudely without injury to truth.
• 2012, April 23, Angelique Chrisafis, François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election, 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.Her face was delicate.The spider wove a delicate web.There was a delicate pattern of frost on the window.
3. Intended for use with fragile items.Set the washing machine to the delicate cycle.
4. Refined; gentle; scrupulous not to trespass or offend; considerate; said of manners, conduct, or feelings.delicate behaviour; delicate attentions; delicate thoughtfulness
5. Of weak health; easily sick; unable to endure hardship.a delicate child; delicate health
• Shakespearea delicate and tender prince
6. (informal) Unwell, especially because of having drunk too much alcohol.Please don't speak so loudly: I'm feeling a bit delicate this morning.
7. (obsolete) Addicted to pleasure; luxurious; voluptuous; alluring.
• 1360–1387, William Langland, Piers Plowman (C-text), passus IX, line 285:Þenk þat diues for hus delicat lyf to þe deuel wente.
• circa 1660, John Evelyn (author), William Bray (antiquary) (editor), , volume I of II (1901), entry for the 19th of August in 1641, page 29:Haerlem is a very delicate town and hath one of the fairest churches of the Gothic design I had ever seen.
8. Pleasing to the senses; refined; adapted to please an elegant or cultivated taste.a delicate dish; delicate flavour
9. Slight and shapely; lovely; graceful.
• circa 1603, William Shakespeare, Othello, act II, scene iii, lines 18 and 20–21:Michael Cassio:   She’s a most exquisite lady.…Indeed, she’s a most fresh and delicate creature.
10. Light, or softly tinted; said of a colour.a delicate shade of blue
11. Of exacting tastes and habits; dainty; fastidious.
12. Highly discriminating or perceptive; refinedly critical; sensitive; exquisite.a delicate taste; a delicate ear for music
13. Affected by slight causes; showing slight changes.a delicate thermometer

Related terms

• delicacy
• delicately
• delicatessen
• delicious
• delight

Synonyms

• (easily damaged) fragile

Noun

1. A delicate item of clothing, especially underwear or lingerie.Don't put that in with your jeans: it's a delicate!
2. (obsolete) A choice dainty; a delicacy.With abstinence all delicates he sees. — Dryden.
3. (obsolete) A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.All the vessels, then, which our delicates have, — those I mean that would seem to be more fine in their houses than their neighbours, — are only of the Corinth metal. — Holland.