delicacy
fineness of texture, quality, etc.; softness; daintiness: the delicacy of lace.
something delightful or pleasing, especially a choice food considered with regard to its rarity, costliness, or the like: Caviar is a great delicacy.
the quality of being easily broken or damaged; fragility.
the quality of requiring or involving great care or tact: negotiations of great delicacy.
extreme sensitivity; precision of action or operation; minute accuracy: the delicacy of a skillful surgeon's touch; a watch mechanism of unusual delicacy.
fineness of perception or feeling; sensitiveness: the delicacy of the pianist's playing.
fineness of feeling with regard to what is fitting, proper, etc.: Delicacy would not permit her to be rude.
sensitivity with regard to the feelings of others: She criticized him with such delicacy that he was not offended.
bodily weakness; liability to sickness; frailty.
Linguistics. (especially in systemic linguistics) the degree of minuteness pursued at a given stage of analysis in specifying distinctions in linguistic description.
Obsolete. sensuous indulgence; luxury.
Origin of delicacy
1Other words for delicacy
Opposites for delicacy
Other words from delicacy
- hy·per·del·i·ca·cy, noun
Words Nearby delicacy
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use delicacy in a sentence
Not content to just mass-produce lab-grown fish fillets, it has focused on developing prized delicacies, especially fish maw.
I Tried Lab-Grown Fish Maw. Here's Why It Could Help Save Our Oceans | Amy Gunia/Hong Kong | September 17, 2021 | TimeEnjoy the local delicacy with this summery cocktail that uses TINCUP’s bourbon, which is aged for 10 years.
Add These 5 Backcountry Lodges to Your Adventure Bucket List | elessard | August 12, 2021 | Outside OnlineIt was a delicacy from the gods in order to not go to sleep hungry, which is one of the worst sensations in life.
She next took on four papers that had been rapidly published early in 2020, two of them in Nature, describing viruses in pangolins—endangered scale-covered mammals sometimes eaten as delicacies in China—that shared similarities to SARS-CoV-2.
They called it a conspiracy theory. But Alina Chan tweeted life into the idea that the virus came from a lab. | Antonio Regalado | June 25, 2021 | MIT Technology ReviewThe latter work’s delicacy, typical of Yamaguchi’s style, is infused here with new urgency.
In the galleries: Images focus on the future of the planet | Mark Jenkins | May 28, 2021 | Washington Post
At the time, the island had not yet been named after the delicacy, and went by the decidedly less fantastical Twickenham Ait.
C, lastly, I just think [Perritaz] has a natural taste for purity, delicacy, and ethereal balance.
His hilarious parody-fable, “A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig,” traces the supposed genesis of that culinary delicacy.
Phillip Lopate’s Book Bag: The Essay Tradition | Phillip Lopate | February 5, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTIn their scenes, there is delicacy, there is love, and there is hope.
‘Downton Abbey’ Season 3: Julian Fellowes, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, and More | Jace Lacob | January 4, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTSt. Peter Damian damned her for “excessive delicacy” in preferring such a rarefied implement to her God-given hands.
The Strange Way We Eat: Bee Wilson’s ‘Consider the Fork’ | Bee Wilson | October 13, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTFlowers, fruits, and insects were her favorite subjects, and were painted with rare delicacy.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D. | Clara Erskine ClementI think that he had more virtuosity, and yet more delicacy of feeling, than either Rubinstein or Blow.
Music-Study in Germany | Amy FayThe officer, with less delicacy of attention to the supposed slumbers of an invalid, followed him.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4 | Jane PorterMany of these pipes are sculptured from the most obdurate stones and display great delicacy of workmanship.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce | E. R. Billings.He evidently avoided taking a share in the discussion of his Transatlantic career, probably from delicacy to his English auditor.
British Dictionary definitions for delicacy
/ (ˈdɛlɪkəsɪ) /
fine or subtle quality, character, construction, etc: delicacy of craftsmanship
fragile, soft, or graceful beauty
something that is considered choice to eat, such as caviar
fragile construction or constitution; frailty
refinement of feeling, manner, or appreciation: the delicacy of the orchestra's playing
fussy or squeamish refinement, esp in matters of taste, propriety, etc
need for tactful or sensitive handling
accuracy or sensitivity of response or operation, as of an instrument
(in systemic grammar) the level of detail at which a linguistic description is made; the degree of fine distinction in a linguistic description
obsolete gratification, luxury, or voluptuousness
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Browse