| English Dictionary |
DELICATE
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Dictionary entry overview: What does delicate mean?
• DELICATE (adjective)
The adjective DELICATE has 7 senses:
1. exquisitely fine and subtle and pleasing; susceptible to injury
2. marked by great skill especially in meticulous technique
3. easily broken or damaged or destroyed
4. easily hurt
5. developed with extreme delicacy and subtlety
6. difficult to handle; requiring great tact
7. of an instrument or device; capable of registering minute differences or changes precisely
Familiarity information: DELICATE used as an adjective is common.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Exquisitely fine and subtle and pleasing; susceptible to injury
Context example:
the delicate wing of a butterfly
Similar:
dainty; exquisite (delicately beautiful)
ethereal; gossamer (characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy)
fragile (vulnerably delicate)
light-handed (having a metaphorically delicate touch)
overdelicate (extremely delicate)
pastel (lacking in body or vigor)
tender ((of plants) not hardy; easily killed by adverse growing condition)
Also:
breakable (capable of being broken or damaged)
weak (wanting in physical strength)
frail (physically weak)
Attribute:
strength (the property of being physically or mentally strong)
Antonym:
rugged (sturdy and strong in constitution or construction; enduring)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Marked by great skill especially in meticulous technique
Context example:
a surgeon's delicate touch
Similar:
skilled (having or showing or requiring special skill)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Easily broken or damaged or destroyed
Synonyms:
Context example:
a frail craft
Similar:
breakable (capable of being broken or damaged)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Easily hurt
Synonyms:
delicate; soft
Context example:
a baby's delicate skin
Similar:
tender; untoughened (physically untoughened)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Developed with extreme delicacy and subtlety
Synonyms:
delicate; finespun
Context example:
the satire touches with finespun ridicule every kind of human pretense
Similar:
refined ((used of persons and their behavior) cultivated and genteel)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Difficult to handle; requiring great tact
Synonyms:
Context example:
a touchy subject
Similar:
difficult; hard (not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Of an instrument or device; capable of registering minute differences or changes precisely
Context example:
almost undetectable with even the most delicate instruments
Similar:
sensitive (responsive to physical stimuli)
Context examples
Neptune can set up a glamorous environment by putting a delicate veil over reality to make it look quite beautiful.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
I takes 'em up and I put 'em down, and I touches of 'em as delicate as if they was our Em'ly.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
This rang pleasantly in the tailor’s ears; he stretched his delicate head out of the window, and called: “Come up here, dear woman; here you will get rid of your goods.”
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
His sister was less delicate, and directed her eyes towards Mr. Darcy with a very expressive smile.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
She leaned toward him, entreaty in her eyes, and as he looked at her delicate face and into her pure, limpid eyes, as of old he was struck with his own unworthiness.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
This was emphasised by the fact that the snowy mountain-top still held the sunset, and seemed to glow out with a delicate cool pink.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
As the warming ocean loses oxygen, the delicate balance of marine life is thrown into disarray.
(Oceans running out of oxygen at unprecedented rate, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
She sat with that proud, delicate profile of hers outlined against the red curtain.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Though formed in the searing heat of a violent impact, such deposits might provide a delicate window into the possibility of past life on the Red Planet.
(NASA Spacecraft Detects Impact Glass on Surface of Mars, NASA)
Bacteria are prevalent in lakes and soil where there is a delicate balance of organisms.
(Nanoparticles may have bigger impact on the environment than previously thought, National Science Foundation)
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