DAINTY (daintier, daintiest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: daintier    , daintiest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dainty mean? 

• DAINTY (noun)
  The noun DAINTY has 1 sense:

1. something considered choice to eat

  Familiarity information: DAINTY used as a noun is very rare.

• DAINTY (adjective)
  The adjective DAINTY has 3 senses:

1. delicately beautiful

2. especially pleasing to the taste

3. excessively fastidious and easily disgusted

  Familiarity information: DAINTY used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DAINTY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something considered choice to eat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

dainty; delicacy; goody; kickshaw; treat

Hypernyms ("dainty" is a kind of...):

aliment; alimentation; nourishment; nutriment; nutrition; sustenance; victuals (a source of materials to nourish the body)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dainty"):

choice morsel; tidbit; titbit (a small tasty bit of food)

savory; savoury (an aromatic or spicy dish served at the end of dinner or as an hors d'oeuvre)

confection; sweet (a food rich in sugar)

ambrosia; nectar ((classical mythology) the food and drink of the gods; mortals who ate it became immortal)

gelatin; jelly (an edible jelly (sweet or pungent) made with gelatin and used as a dessert or salad base or a coating for foods)

bone marrow; marrow (very tender and very nutritious tissue from marrowbones)

Derivation:

dainty (especially pleasing to the taste)

• DAINTY (adjective)

Comparative: daintier   
Superlative: daintiest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Delicately beautiful

Synonyms:

dainty; exquisite

Context example:

an exquisite cameo

Similar:

delicate (exquisitely fine and subtle and pleasing; susceptible to injury)

Derivation:

daintiness (the quality of being beautiful and delicate in appearance)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Especially pleasing to the taste

Context example:

a dainty dish to set before a kind

Similar:

tasty (pleasing to the sense of taste)

Derivation:

dainty (something considered choice to eat)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Excessively fastidious and easily disgusted

Synonyms:

dainty; nice; overnice; prissy; squeamish

Context example:

so squeamish he would only touch the toilet handle with his elbow

Similar:

fastidious (giving careful attention to detail; hard to please; excessively concerned with cleanliness)

 Context examples 

The Lady Mary Loring slipped her hand from her yellow leather gauntlet, and he, lifting it with dainty reverence, bound it to the front of his velvet cap.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She was born for all that is beautiful and dainty.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She is the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There were neat fences at the sides of the road, painted a dainty blue color, and beyond them were fields of grain and vegetables in abundance.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

However, the wolf thought he was in joke, and came one night to get a dainty morsel.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Well, Jim, says he, just see the good that comes of being dainty in your food.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“Undreamed of!” cried Mercedes, throwing up her hands in dainty dismay.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

She was too tired, sometimes, even to smile, John grew dyspeptic after a course of dainty dishes and ungratefully demanded plain fare.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He opened the basket, and in a minute he had the table all shining with silver and glass, and studded with dainty dishes.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He walked past the couch to the open window, and held up the drooping stalk of a moss-rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson and green.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)