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delicacy - 3 dictionary results
del⋅i⋅ca⋅cy
[del-i-kuh-see] 
ɪ
–noun, plural -cies.
| 1. | fineness of texture, quality, etc.; softness; daintiness: the delicacy of lace. |
| 2. | something delightful or pleasing, esp. a choice food considered with regard to its rarity, costliness, or the like: Caviar is a great delicacy. |
| 3. | the quality of being easily broken or damaged; fragility. |
| 4. | the quality of requiring or involving great care or tact: negotiations of great delicacy. |
| 5. | extreme sensitivity; precision of action or operation; minute accuracy: the delicacy of a skillful surgeon's touch; a watch mechanism of unusual delicacy. |
| 6. | fineness of perception or feeling; sensitiveness: the delicacy of the pianist's playing. |
| 7. | fineness of feeling with regard to what is fitting, proper, etc.: Delicacy would not permit her to be rude. |
| 8. | sensitivity with regard to the feelings of others: She criticized him with such delicacy that he was not offended. |
| 9. | bodily weakness; liability to sickness; frailty. |
| 10. | Linguistics. (esp. in systemic linguistics) the degree of minuteness pursued at a given stage of analysis in specifying distinctions in linguistic description. |
| 11. | Obsolete. sensuous indulgence; luxury. |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To delicacy
| del·i·ca·cy (děl'ĭ-kə-sē) n. pl. del·i·ca·cies
[Middle English delicacie, from delicat, delicate; see delicate.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Delicacy
Del"i*ca*cy\, n.; pl. Delicacies. [From Delicate, a.]1. The state or condition of being delicate; agreeableness to the senses; delightfulness; as, delicacy of flavor, of odor, and the like. What choice to choose for delicacy best. --Milton. 2. Nicety or fineness of form, texture, or constitution; softness; elegance; smoothness; tenderness; and hence, frailty or weakness; as, the delicacy of a fiber or a thread; delicacy of a hand or of the human form; delicacy of the skin; delicacy of frame. 3. Nice propriety of manners or conduct; susceptibility or tenderness of feeling; refinement; fastidiousness; and hence, in an exaggerated sense, effeminacy; as, great delicacy of behavior; delicacy in doing a kindness; delicacy of character that unfits for earnest action. You know your mother's delicacy in this point. --Cowper. 4. Addiction to pleasure; luxury; daintiness; indulgence; luxurious or voluptuous treatment. And to those dainty limbs which Nature lent For gentle usage and soft delicacy? --Milton. 5. Nice and refined perception and discrimination; critical niceness; fastidious accuracy. That Augustan delicacy of taste which is the boast of the great public schools of England. --Macaulay. 6. The state of being affected by slight causes; sensitiveness; as, the delicacy of a chemist's balance. 7. That which is alluring, delicate, or refined; a luxury or pleasure; something pleasant to the senses, especially to the sense of taste; a dainty; as, delicacies of the table. The merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. --Rev. xviii. 3. 8. Pleasure; gratification; delight. [Obs.] He Rome brent for his delicacie. --Chaucer. Syn: See Dainty.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : delicacy
Spanish:
delicadeza,
German:
die Zartheit,
Japanese:
繊細さ
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