delicate

Etymology

From Middle English delicat, from Latin dēlicātus (“giving pleasure, delightful, soft, luxurious, delicate, in Medieval Latin also fine, slender”), from dēlicia, usually in plural dēliciae (“pleasure, delight, luxury”), from dēliciō (“I allure, entice”), from dē- (“away”) + laciō (“I lure, I deceive”), from Proto-Italic *lakjō (“to draw, pull”), of unknown ultimate origin. Compare delight, delicious and Spanish delgado (“thin, skinny”).

adj

1. Easily damaged or requiring careful handling.
   Those clothes are made from delicate lace.
   The negotiations were very delicate.
   There are some things too delicate and too sacred to be handled rudely without injury to truth. April 18, 1850, 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. April 23, 2012, Angelique Chrisafis, “François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election”, in the Guardian
2. Characterized by a fine structure or thin lines.
   Her face was delicate.
   The spider wove a delicate web.
   There was a delicate pattern of frost on the window.
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
   delicate thoughtfulness
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.
8. circa 1660, John Evelyn (author), William Bray (editor), The Diary of John Evelyn, volume I of II (1901), entry for the 19th of August in 1641, page 29:
   Haerlem is a very delicate town and hath one of the fairest churches of the Gothic design I had ever seen.
9. Pleasing to the senses; refined; adapted to please an elegant or cultivated taste.
   a delicate dish
   delicate flavour
   They would give up ideas of gentle living, of soft raiment, and delicate feeding. 1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage
10. Slight and shapely; lovely; graceful.
11. Light, or softly tinted; said of a colour.
    a delicate shade of blue
12. Of exacting tastes and habits; dainty; fastidious.
13. Highly discriminating or perceptive; refinedly critical; sensitive; exquisite.
    a delicate taste
    a delicate ear for music
14. Affected by slight causes; showing slight changes.
    a delicate thermometer

noun

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 execution 1830, “The Barge's Crew”, in The Log Book; Or, Nautical Miscellany, page 341
4. A moth, Mythimna vitellina