delicate
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: 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).
Base: dēliciae
Affixes: -ātus
Inflected forms:
form: more delicate
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: delicater
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most delicate
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: delicatest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: delicates
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: Easily damaged or requiring careful handling.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
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.
gloss: Characterized by a fine structure or thin lines.
pos: adj
examples: Her face was delicate.
The spider wove a delicate web.
There was a delicate pattern of frost on the window.
You crush a delicate moth wing
 I see the stain on your fingertips
gloss: Intended for use with fragile items.
pos: adj
examples: Set the washing machine to the delicate cycle.
gloss: Refined; gentle; scrupulous not to trespass or offend; considerate; said of manners, conduct, or feelings.
pos: adj
examples: delicate behaviour
delicate attentions
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.
gloss: Of weak health; easily sick; unable to endure hardship.
pos: adj
examples: a delicate child
delicate health
[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.
gloss: Unwell, especially because of having drunk too much alcohol.
pos: adj
tags: informal
examples: Please don't speak so loudly: I'm feeling a bit delicate this morning.
gloss: Addicted to pleasure; luxurious; voluptuous; alluring.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
examples: This [Haarlem] is a very delicate towne, and hath one of the fairest Churches, of the Gotiq design, I had seene.
gloss: Pleasing to the senses; refined; adapted to please an elegant or cultivated taste.
pos: adj
examples: a delicate dish
delicate flavour
[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.
gloss: Slight and shapely; lovely; graceful.
pos: adj
examples: Caſ[ſio]. She is a moſt exquiſite Lady. […] Indeede ſhe is a moſt freſh and delicate creature.
gloss: Light, or softly tinted; said of a colour.
pos: adj
examples: a delicate shade of blue
gloss: Of exacting tastes and habits; dainty; fastidious.
pos: adj
gloss: Highly discriminating or perceptive; refinedly critical; sensitive; exquisite.
pos: adj
examples: a delicate taste
a delicate ear for music
gloss: Affected by slight causes; showing slight changes.
pos: adj
examples: a delicate thermometer
gloss: A delicate item of clothing, especially underwear or lingerie.
pos: noun
examples: Don't put that in with your jeans: it's a delicate!
gloss: A choice dainty; a delicacy.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: With Abstinence all Delicates he Sees, / And can regale himself with Toast and Cheese.
gloss: A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: 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.
gloss: A moth of the species Mythimna vitellina.
pos: noun
Related words: delicacy
delicately
delicatessen
delicious
delight
Derived words: delicateness
hyperdelicate
indelicate
overdelicate
semidelicate
superdelicate
ultradelicate
undelicate
Translations: