delicate

Meaning

Adj

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

Noun

1. A delicate item of clothing, especially underwear or lingerie.
2. (obsolete) A choice dainty; a delicacy.
3. (obsolete) A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.
4. A moth, Mythimna vitellina.

Synonyms

fine

fragile

soft

tender

sensitive

weak

dainty

frail

gentle

refined

subtle

slender

thin

exquisite

brittle

feeble

slim

breakable

slight

smooth

sickly

touchy

minute

graceful

light

ticklish

nice

elaborate

silky

detailed

accurate

sweet

supple

tactful

infirm

keen

elegant

frangible

lissome

subtile

mild

young

difficult

acute

decrepit

dangerous

risky

sharp

shiny

finespun

Translations

délicat

delicado

delicato

fragile

zart

delicat

sensible

empfindlich

fin

🔚

delikat

fragile

fein

fijn

zierlich

heikel

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈdɛlɪkət/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: delicat

Cognate with Spanish: delgado

In summary

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 (“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”). The noun is from a substantivization of the adjective (see -ate).