delicately

[ del-i-kit-lee ]

adverb

1. 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.

2. in a tactful or sensitive way:

   Employee issues need to be managed delicately, with empathy and an open perspective.

3. 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.

4. 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 Words From

• hy·per·del·i·cate·ly adverb
• non·del·i·cate·ly adverb
• qua·si-del·i·cate·ly adverb
• su·per·del·i·cate·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of delicately¹

delicate ( def ) + -ly

Example Sentences

Our last option is made entirely of aluminum, inside and out, so it’s a great choice if you don’t want the pressure of taking care of delicate glass.

From Popular-Science

Seeking something that was “fresh yet delicate,” according to Gjerde, they landed on a cuvée comprised of 48% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir, and 12% Pinot Meunier.

From Fortune

In the podcast, I think iO walks a delicate line between journalism and inserting himself into the story, and he does it incredibly well!

From Fortune

It takes very little energy to break up pairs of electrons in a superconductor, and these pairs break up into free electrons, potentially leading to energy exchanges that can destroy the superconductor’s delicate state.

From MIT Technology Review

Such a delicate structure could have formed only through an equally delicate, gentle process.

From Nautilus

The cheery 69-year-old father of eight sits in the center with his wife and delicately brandishes a small, brown book.

From The Daily Beast

Then, as the car pulled away, he again began his slow movements with the girl delicately balanced on the hitching post.

From The Daily Beast

PANKISI GORGE, Georgia—The mother of martyrs, a woman in her fifties, is delicately beautiful and visibly in pain.

From The Daily Beast

This deft, delicately wrought story is Murakami at his best.

From The Daily Beast

I just found it depressingly tone deaf for a show that typically handles these sensitive issues so delicately.

From The Daily Beast

Portuguese snuff seemed to be in favor and was delicately perfumed.

From Project Gutenberg

He held the pin delicately between finger and thumb, and controlled her with his roguish eyes.

From Project Gutenberg

Here the tobacco plant attains its finest form and most delicately flavored leaves.

From Project Gutenberg

They that were fed delicately have died in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet have embraced the dung.

From Project Gutenberg

Now here is a lady, well educated and delicately nurtured, who is destitute of the common necessaries of life.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• beautifully
• cautiously
• deftly
• elegantly
• exquisitely
• finely
• gracefully
• lightly
• sensitively
• skillfully
• softly
• subtly
• tactfully