delicate

Meanings

Adjective

• Easily damaged or requiring careful handling.
• Characterized by a fine structure or thin lines.
• Intended for use with fragile items.
• Refined; gentle; scrupulous not to trespass or offend; considerate; said of manners, conduct, or feelings.
• Of weak health; easily sick; unable to endure hardship.
• Unwell, especially because of having drunk too much alcohol.
• Addicted to pleasure; luxurious; voluptuous; alluring.
• Pleasing to the senses; refined; adapted to please an elegant or cultivated taste.
• Slight and shapely; lovely; graceful.
• Light, or softly tinted; said of a colour.
• Of exacting tastes and habits; dainty; fastidious.
• Highly discriminating or perceptive; refinedly critical; sensitive; exquisite.
• Affected by slight causes; showing slight changes.

Noun

• A delicate item of clothing, especially underwear or lingerie.
• A choice dainty; a delicacy.
• A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.

Related

Similar words

• fragile

Origin

• From Middle English delicat, from Latin delicatus ("giving pleasure, delightful, soft, luxurious, delicate, in Medieval Latin also fine, slender"), from delicia, usually in plural deliciae, from delicere, from de + lacere. Compare Spanish delgado ("thin, skinny").