delicate
adjEtymology
From Middle English delicat, from Latin dēlicātus (“giving pleasure, delightful, soft, luxurious, delicate, (in Medieval Latin also) fine, slender”), from dēlicia + -ātus (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), usually in plural dēliciae (“pleasure, delight, luxury”), from dēliciō (“to allure, entice”), from dē- (“away”) + laciō (“to lure, to deceive”), from Proto-Italic *lakjō (“to draw, pull”), of unknown ultimate origin. Compare delight, delicious and Spanish delgado (“thin, skinny”). The noun is from a substantivization of the adjective (see -ate).
Definitions
Easily damaged or requiring careful handling.
- Those clothes are made from delicate lace.
- The negotiations were very delicate.
- There are some things too delicate and too sacred to be handled rudely without injury to truth.
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.
Intended for use with fragile items.
- Set the washing machine to the delicate cycle.
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Refined
Refined; gentle; scrupulous not to trespass or offend; considerate; said of manners, conduct, or feelings.
- delicate behaviour
- delicate attentions
- delicate thoughtfulness
Of weak health
Of weak health; easily sick; unable to endure hardship.
- a delicate child
- delicate health
Unwell, especially because of having drunk too much alcohol.
- Please don't speak so loudly: I'm feeling a bit delicate this morning.
Addicted to pleasure
Addicted to pleasure; luxurious; voluptuous; alluring.
- This [Haarlem] is a very delicate towne, and hath one of the fairest Churches, of the Gotiq design, I had seene.
Pleasing to the senses
Pleasing to the senses; refined; adapted to please an elegant or cultivated taste.
- a delicate dish
- delicate flavour
Slight and shapely
Slight and shapely; lovely; graceful.
- Caſ[ſio]. She is a moſt exquiſite Lady. […] Indeede ſhe is a moſt freſh and delicate creature.
Light, or softly tinted
Light, or softly tinted; said of a colour.
- a delicate shade of blue
Of exacting tastes and habits
Of exacting tastes and habits; dainty; fastidious.
Highly discriminating or perceptive
Highly discriminating or perceptive; refinedly critical; sensitive; exquisite.
- a delicate taste
- a delicate ear for music
Affected by slight causes
Affected by slight causes; showing slight changes.
- a delicate thermometer
A delicate item of clothing, especially underwear or lingerie.
- Don't put that in with your jeans: it's a delicate!
A choice dainty
A choice dainty; a delicacy.
- With Abstinence all Delicates he Sees, / And can regale himself with Toast and Cheese.
A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.
- 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.
A moth of the species Mythimna vitellina.
The neighborhood
- neighbordelicacy
- neighbordelicately
- neighbordelicatessen
- neighbordelicious
- neighbordelight
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at delicate. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at delicate. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
7 hops · closes at delicate
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA