delicate
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: délicate
Etymology
From Middle English delicat, from Latin dēlicātus (“giving pleasure, delightful, soft, luxurious, delicate, in Medieval Latin also fine, slender”), from dēlicia, usually in plural dēliciae (“pleasure, delight, luxury”), from dēliciō (“I allure, entice”), from dē- (“away”) + laciō (“I lure, I deceive”), from Proto-Italic *lakjō (“to draw, pull”), of unknown ultimate origin. Compare delight, delicious and Spanish delgado (“thin, skinny”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
delicate (comparative more delicate, superlative most delicate)
- Easily damaged or requiring careful handling.
- Those clothes are made from delicate lace.
- The negotiations were very delicate.
- Characterized by a fine structure or thin lines.
- 2021, “Silk in the Strings”, performed by Spiritbox:
- You crush a delicate moth wing
I see the stain on your fingertips
- 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.
- Refined; gentle; scrupulous not to trespass or offend; considerate; said of manners, conduct, or feelings.
- delicate behaviour
- delicate attentions
- delicate thoughtfulness
- Of weak health; easily sick; unable to endure hardship.
- a delicate child
- delicate health
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:
- a delicate and tender prince
- (informal) Unwell, especially because of having drunk too much alcohol.
- Please don't speak so loudly: I'm feeling a bit delicate this morning.
- (obsolete) Addicted to pleasure; luxurious; voluptuous; alluring.
- circa 1660, John Evelyn (author), William Bray (editor), The Diary of John Evelyn, 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.
- circa 1660, John Evelyn (author), William Bray (editor), The Diary of John Evelyn, volume I of II (1901), entry for the 19th of August in 1641, page 29:
- Pleasing to the senses; refined; adapted to please an elegant or cultivated taste.
- a delicate dish
- delicate flavour
- 1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage:
- They would give up ideas of gentle living, of soft raiment, and delicate feeding.
- Slight and shapely; lovely; graceful.
- c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], lines 18 and 20–21:
- Cassio: She’s a most exquisite lady. […] Indeed, she’s a most fresh and delicate creature.
- Light, or softly tinted; said of a colour.
- a delicate shade of blue
- Of exacting tastes and habits; dainty; fastidious.
- Highly discriminating or perceptive; refinedly critical; sensitive; exquisite.
- a delicate taste
- a delicate ear for music
- Affected by slight causes; showing slight changes.
- a delicate thermometer
Synonyms
- (easily damaged): fragile
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
- → Japanese: デリケート (derikēto)
Translations
easily damaged or requiring careful handling
|
characterized by a fine structure or thin lines
|
intended for use with fragile items
|
refined, gentle
of weak health, easily sick
unwell, especially because of having drunk too much alcohol
|
addicted to pleasure
|
pleasing to the senses; refined
slight and shapely; lovely; graceful
light, or softly tinted
of exacting tastes and habits; dainty; fastidious.
|
highly discriminating or perceptive
|
affected by slight causes
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Noun
delicate (plural delicates)
- A delicate item of clothing, especially underwear or lingerie.
- Don't put that in with your jeans: it's a delicate!
- (obsolete) A choice dainty; a delicacy.
- 1712, William King, The Art of Cookery, in Imitation of Horace's Art of Poetry:
- With Abstinence all Delicates he Sees, / And can regale himself with Toast and Cheese.
- (obsolete) A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.
- 1603, Plutarch, translated by Philemon Holland, The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC:
- If Lucullus were not a waster and a delicate given to belly-cheare.
- A moth, Mythimna vitellina
Further reading
- “delicate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “delicate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Pronunciation
Adjective
delicate f pl
Anagrams
Adjective
dēlicāte
References
- “delicate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “delicate”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- delicate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Pronunciation
Adjective
delicate
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