delicately
Americanadverb
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in a careful way.
They stepped delicately among the brambles and exposed rocks.
Aggressive removal of the tumor must be delicately balanced with the risk of injury to adjacent normal tissue.
-
in a tactful or sensitive way.
Employee issues need to be managed delicately, with empathy and an open perspective.
-
in a faint, subtle, quiet, or barely perceptible way.
Dessert was perfection: perfectly moist and delicately flavored ricotta and rhubarb cakes with a big dollop of creamy vanilla mascarpone.
The eye-catching Himalayan honeysuckle has pendant spikes of deep red bracts with white, delicately scented flowers and red-purple berries.
-
showing or using precision or refinement.
The region is a famous center for embroidery and appliqué work, painted pottery, and delicately carved wooden doors.
Other Word Forms
- hyperdelicately adverb
- nondelicately adverb
- quasi-delicately adverb
- superdelicately adverb
Etymology
Origin of delicately
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Breaks of 61 and 115 gave him a 2-1 lead over Hawkins and he was then able to exhibit his renowned matchplay skills to edge three consecutive frames that were all delicately poised.
From BBC
If you still want to see your friend but don't want to be around their partner, Williamson says it can be handled delicately.
From BBC
As Ms. Aikin ably traces, successive librarians have delicately navigated the library’s continually expanding national role.
She winces as a small cannula is delicately inserted into her cheek.
From BBC
There it was: the delicately arched eyebrow, the waves of brown hair cascading poetically over that intelligent forehead....No doubt he was busy thinking up plot twists even now....
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
