Word.ws English Dictionary

delicate

UK/ˈdɛl.ɪ.kət//ˈdɛl.ɪ.kɪt/

delicate adjective: easily damaged or requiring careful handling.

Adjective

delicate (comparative more delicate or delicater, superlative most delicate or delicatest)

  1. Easily damaged or requiring careful handling.
    • Those clothes are made from delicate lace.
    • The negotiations were very delicate.
    Synonyms:
    fragile
  2. Characterized by a fine structure or thin lines.
    • Her face was delicate.
    • The spider wove a delicate web.
  3. Intended for use with fragile items.
    • Set the washing machine to the delicate cycle.
  4. Refined; gentle; scrupulous not to trespass or offend; considerate; said of manners, conduct, or feelings.
    • delicate behaviour
    • delicate attentions
  5. Of weak health; easily sick; unable to endure hardship.
    • a delicate child
    • delicate health
  6. (informal) Unwell, especially because of having drunk too much alcohol.
    • Please don't speak so loudly: I'm feeling a bit delicate this morning.
  7. (obsolete) Addicted to pleasure; luxurious; voluptuous; alluring.
    • This [Haarlem] is a very delicate towne, and hath one of the fairest Churches, of the Gotiq design, I had seene.1641 August 28 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 19 August 1641]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume...
  8. Pleasing to the senses; refined; adapted to please an elegant or cultivated taste.
    • a delicate dish
    • delicate flavour
  9. Slight and shapely; lovely; graceful.
    • Caſ[ſio]. She is a moſt exquiſite Lady. […] Indeede ſhe is a moſt freſh and delicate creature.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act...
  10. Light, or softly tinted; said of a colour.
    • a delicate shade of blue
  11. Of exacting tastes and habits; dainty; fastidious.
  12. Highly discriminating or perceptive; refinedly critical; sensitive; exquisite.
    • a delicate taste
    • a delicate ear for music
  13. Affected by slight causes; showing slight changes.
    • a delicate thermometer

Noun

delicate (plural delicates)

  1. A delicate item of clothing, especially underwear or lingerie.
    • Don't put that in with your jeans: it's a delicate!
  2. (obsolete) A choice dainty; a delicacy.
    • With Abstinence all Delicates he Sees, / And can regale himself with Toast and Cheese.1712, William King, The Art of Cookery, in Imitation of Horace's Art of Poetry
  3. (obsolete) A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.
    • 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 execution1830, “The Barge's Crew”, in The Log Book; Or, Nautical Miscellany, page 341
    • If Lucullus were not a waster and a delicate given to belly-cheare.1603, Plutarch, translated by Philemon Holland, The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC
  4. A moth of the species Mythimna vitellina.

delicate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

delicate in Hindi

delicate, gentle
महीन mahīn
delicate; frail
पतला patlā

delicate in Tamil

மென்மையான, நுண்ணிய, நொய்மையான, இக்கட்டான

delicate in Marathi

delicate, tender
नाजुक nājuk

delicate in Urdu

delicate
کومل kōmal, باریک bārīk
delicate; frail
پتلا patlā
More languagesFewer languages
delicate in Bengali
সংবেদনশীল sôṅbedônśīl
delicate in Telugu
పెళుసు peḷusu
delicate in Malayalam
രുചികരമായ, നേർമ്മയുളള, സൂക്ഷ്മഗ്രാഹിയായ, മിനുസമേറിയ
delicate in Kannada
ನವುರು, ಕೋಮಲವಾದ, ನವುರಾದ, ಮೃದುವಾದ
delicate in Punjabi
ملوک malūk, ਪਤਲਾ patlā
delicate in Gujarati
નાજુક nājuk
delicate in Sanskrit
कोमल komala, मृदु mṛdu, तनु tanu
delicate in Assamese
আলসুৱা aloxua
delicate in Thai
บอบบาง, ละเอียดอ่อน, ละเอียด lá-ìiat

Examples of delicate in a sentence

  • There was a delicate pattern of frost on the window.
  • delicate thoughtfulness
  • There are some things too delicate and too sacred to be handled rudely without injury to truth.1850 April 18, Frederik W. Robertson, An Address Delivered to the Members of the Working Man's Institute, page 5:
  • 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.2012 April 23, Angelique Chrisafis, “François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election”, in the Guardian:
  • The Fleſh of man, becauſe its Nouriſhed by purer Blood, is delicater than the fleſh of other Creatures, and prefered before it by Canibals, or Man-Eaters.1665, Johannes Riolanus, translated by Nich[olas] Culpeper, “The Division of Mans Body”, in A Sure Guide or, The Best and Nearest Way to...
  • They would give up ideas of gentle living, of soft raiment, and delicate feeding.1860 January – 1861 April, Anthony Trollope, “Mr. Crawley of Hogglestock”, in Framley Parsonage. […] (Collection of British Authors; 551)...

All 40 example sentences with delicate

Synonyms of delicate

Forms of delicate

Adjective
comparativemore delicate
comparativedelicater
superlativemost delicate
superlativedelicatest
Noun
pluraldelicates

Origin of delicate

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 (“to allure, entice”), from dē- (“away”) + laciō (“to lure, to 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).

Words formed from delicate

Questions about delicate

What does delicate mean?
Delicate means easily damaged or requiring careful handling.
What is delicate in Hindi?
Delicate in Hindi is महीन (mahīn), पतला (patlā). See Delicate meaning in Hindi.
How do you use delicate in a sentence?
There was a delicate pattern of frost on the window.
What part of speech is delicate?
Delicate can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce delicate?
Delicate is pronounced /ˈdɛl.ɪ.kət/ (UK).

Words near delicate in the dictionary

  1. delibrations
  2. delicacies
  3. delicacy
  4. delicata
  5. delicatas
  6. delicate
  7. delicated
  8. delicately
  9. delicateness
  10. delicater
  11. delicates

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: delicate (page history and authors); पतला (Hindi) (page history and authors); delicate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); नाजुक (Marathi) (page history and authors); باریک (Urdu) (page history and authors); সংবেদনশীল (Bengali) (page history and authors); delicate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); delicate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ملوک (Punjabi) (page history and authors); আলসুৱা (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “delicate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/delicate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.