delicate
See also: délicate
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]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).
Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]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.
- 1850 April 18, Frederik W. Robertson, An Address Delivered to the Members of the Working Man's Institute[1], page 5:
- There are some things too delicate and too sacred to be handled rudely without injury to truth.
- 2012 April 23, Angelique Chrisafis, “François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election”, in the Guardian[2]:
- The final vote between Hollande and Sarkozy now depends on a delicate balance of how France's total of rightwing and leftwing voters line up.
- 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
[edit]- (easily damaged): fragile
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- → Japanese: デリケート (derikēto)
Translations
[edit]easily damaged or requiring careful handling
|
characterized by a fine structure or thin lines
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intended for use with fragile items
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refined, gentle
of weak health, easily sick
unwell, especially because of having drunk too much alcohol
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addicted to pleasure
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pleasing to the senses; refined
slight and shapely; lovely; graceful
light, or softly tinted
of exacting tastes and habits; dainty; fastidious.
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highly discriminating or perceptive
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affected by slight causes
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- 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
[edit]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.
- 1830, “The Barge's Crew”, in The Log Book; Or, Nautical Miscellany[3], page 341:
- A council of war was called, and the delicates met in the great cabin ; the platform was rigged up on the forecastle, the yard-rope rove, and the signal made for all boats to attend execution
- 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
[edit]- “delicate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “delicate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
Italian
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]delicate f pl
Anagrams
[edit]Latin
[edit]Adjective
[edit]dēlicāte
References
[edit]- “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.
Romanian
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]delicate
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms suffixed with -ate (adjective)
- English terms derived from Proto-Italic
- English terms suffixed with -ate (substantive)
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English informal terms
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- Italian 4-syllable words
- Italian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Italian/ate
- Rhymes:Italian/ate/4 syllables
- Italian non-lemma forms
- Italian adjective forms
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin adjective forms
- Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Romanian non-lemma forms
- Romanian adjective forms