indelicate
Americanadjective
-
offensive to a sense of generally accepted propriety, modesty, or decency; improper, unrefined, or coarse.
indelicate language.
- Synonyms:
- rude, gauche, untactful, indecorous
-
not delicate; lacking delicacy; rough.
adjective
-
coarse, crude, or rough
-
offensive, embarrassing, or tasteless
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of indelicate
Explanation
Indelicate things are offensive or rude. If you tell an indelicate joke to your sweet, old-fashioned great-grandmother, it'll make her blush. Many people would consider the question, "How much money do you make?" to be an indelicate one — it's tactless to ask it. Dirty jokes are indelicate because they're in bad taste, likely to offend someone. The adjective indelicate uses the "not" prefix in- along with delicate, which here means "tactful and considerate."
Vocabulary lists containing indelicate
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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.
In occasionally indelicate detail, “Tusker: Brotherhood of Elephants” studies the reproductive lives of Kenya’s rare “tuskers”—animals whose tusks weigh more than 100 pounds apiece, making them especially attractive to poachers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 13, 2026
Under its showrunners, Rich Appel and Alec Sulkin, “Family Guy” continues to carve out its own indelicate but undeniably funny path on Fox, FXX and Hulu.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2024
Forgive his indelicate language; do not forgive those who resent the fact that the Masterman School once was a rake.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 24, 2023
An indelicate visual metaphor, perhaps, but the writer-director Adam Kalderon nonetheless renders his film “The Swimmer” with style and rich psychology.
From New York Times ● Oct. 6, 2022
It was indicated that they were indelicate, some even said obscene.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
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.
