'Delicacy' definitions:
Definition of 'delicacy'
From: WordNet
noun
The quality of being beautiful and delicate in appearance; "the daintiness of her touch"; "the fineness of her features" [syn: daintiness, delicacy, fineness]
noun
noun
Refined taste; tact [syn: delicacy, discretion]
noun
Smallness of stature [syn: delicacy, slightness]
noun
Lack of physical strength [syn: fragility, delicacy]
noun
noun
Lightness in movement or manner [syn: airiness, delicacy]
Definition of 'Delicacy'
From: GCIDE
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- What choice to choose for delicacy best. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- You know your mother's delicacy in this point. --Cowper. [1913 Webster]
- 4. Addiction to pleasure; luxury; daintiness; indulgence; luxurious or voluptuous treatment. [1913 Webster]
- And to those dainty limbs which Nature lent For gentle usage and soft delicacy? --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- 5. Nice and refined perception and discrimination; critical niceness; fastidious accuracy. [1913 Webster]
- That Augustan delicacy of taste which is the boast of the great public schools of England. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
- 6. The state of being affected by slight causes; sensitiveness; as, the delicacy of a chemist's balance. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- The merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. --Rev. xviii. 3. [1913 Webster]
- 8. Pleasure; gratification; delight. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- He Rome brent for his delicacie. --Chaucer.
- Syn: See Dainty. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'delicacy'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- absoluteness,
- accommodatingness,
- accuracy,
- acquired taste,
- affectivity,
- agreeableness,
- airiness,
- airy texture,
- allergy,
- ambrosia,
- amiable weakness,
- anaphylaxis,
- appreciation,
- appreciation of differences,
- appreciation of excellence,
- appreciativeness,
- artistic judgment,
- ascent,
- attention to detail,
- attention to fact,
- attentiveness,
- attenuation,
- banquet,
- beauty,
- bonne bouche,
- breakability,
- breakableness,
- brittleness,
- bubbliness,
- buoyancy,
- cachexia,
- cachexy,
- care for truth,
- cate,
- chanciness,
- changeableness,
- choice morsel,
- choiceness,
- chronic ill health,
- circumstantiality,
- civilized taste,
- civilizedness,
- collapse,
- complaisance,
- concern,
- connoisseurship,
- conscientiousness,
- considerateness,
- consideration,
- correctness,
- cosseting,
- crackability,
- crackableness,
- crispness,
- critical niceness,
- criticality,
- criticalness,
- crumbliness,
- crushability,
- crushableness,
- cultivated taste,
- cultivation,
- culture,
- cunningness,
- cuteness,
- daintiness,
- dainty,
- debilitation,
- debility,
- decency,
- decorousness,
- decorum,
- decrepitude,
- delicate distinction,
- delicate health,
- delicateness,
- dessert,
- destructibility,
- detail,
- diaphanousness,
- differentia,
- differential,
- difficulty,
- dilutedness,
- dilution,
- diminutiveness,
- discriminating taste,
- discriminatingness,
- discrimination,
- discriminativeness,
- disintegration,
- distinction,
- doubtfulness,
- down,
- downiness,
- dubiousness,
- easiness,
- effeminacy,
- elegance,
- empathy,
- enervation,
- ethereality,
- exactingness,
- exactitude,
- exactness,
- excellence,
- exhaustion,
- exiguity,
- exiguousness,
- exility,
- exquisiteness,
- faithfulness,
- fastidiousness,
- faultlessness,
- feast,
- featheriness,
- feebleness,
- feel,
- feeling,
- fewness,
- fidelity,
- filminess,
- fine palate,
- fine point,
- fine-grainedness,
- fineness,
- finesse,
- finicality,
- finicalness,
- finickiness,
- finickingness,
- fissility,
- flawlessness,
- flimsiness,
- floatability,
- flossiness,
- fluff,
- fluffiness,
- foaminess,
- fondness,
- fracturableness,
- fragility,
- frailness,
- frailty,
- frangibility,
- friability,
- frothiness,
- fussiness,
- fuzz,
- fuzziness,
- gauziness,
- gentleness,
- good taste,
- goody,
- gossameriness,
- grace,
- gracefulness,
- gracility,
- graciosity,
- graciousness,
- hairline,
- hazardousness,
- healthlessness,
- heedfulness,
- helpfulness,
- human frailty,
- hyperesthesia,
- hyperpathia,
- hypersensitivity,
- hypochondria,
- hypochondriasis,
- identification,
- ill health,
- impressionability,
- inconsequentiality,
- inconsiderableness,
- indecisiveness,
- indulgence,
- infirmity,
- infirmity of will,
- inherent vice,
- insecurity,
- insignificance,
- insolidity,
- instability,
- insubstantiality,
- insufficiency,
- invalidism,
- invalidity,
- irresolution,
- irritability,
- judiciousness,
- laciness,
- lack of weight,
- languishing,
- languishment,
- leniency,
- levitation,
- levity,
- lightness,
- literalism,
- literality,
- literalness,
- littleness,
- luxury,
- making distinctions,
- manna,
- margin,
- mathematical precision,
- meagerness,
- meanness,
- mellowness,
- meticulousness,
- mindfulness,
- minuteness,
- mistiness,
- moderateness,
- modesty,
- moral weakness,
- morbidezza,
- morbidity,
- morbidness,
- morsel,
- narrow margin,
- nectar,
- nervousness,
- nice distinction,
- niceness,
- niceness of distinction,
- nicety,
- nonresistiveness,
- nonrigidity,
- nuance,
- obligingness,
- oversensibility,
- oversensitiveness,
- overtenderness,
- palate,
- paperiness,
- particle of difference,
- particularity,
- particularness,
- passibility,
- peach fuzz,
- peakedness,
- perceptiveness,
- perceptivity,
- perfection,
- perilousness,
- pettiness,
- photophobia,
- picayunishness,
- plushiness,
- point of difference,
- polish,
- poor health,
- precariousness,
- preciseness,
- precisianism,
- precision,
- prickliness,
- propriety,
- pubescence,
- pudency,
- pudicity,
- pulpiness,
- punctiliousness,
- punctuality,
- puniness,
- quality,
- rarity,
- refined discrimination,
- refined palate,
- refinement,
- regale,
- regard,
- regardfulness,
- responsiveness,
- right,
- rightness,
- rigidity,
- rigidness,
- rigor,
- rigorousness,
- riskiness,
- satin,
- satininess,
- savory,
- scantiness,
- scrupulosity,
- scrupulousness,
- seemliness,
- selectiveness,
- sense,
- sensibility,
- sensitiveness,
- sensitivity,
- sensitization,
- severity,
- shade of difference,
- shakiness,
- shame,
- sickliness,
- silk,
- silkiness,
- sleaziness,
- slenderness,
- slightness,
- slimness,
- slipperiness,
- smallness,
- smoothness,
- softheartedness,
- softness,
- solicitousness,
- solicitude,
- sophistication,
- soreness,
- sponginess,
- strictness,
- subtility,
- subtle distinction,
- subtlety,
- supersensitivity,
- susceptibility,
- sweetmeat,
- sword of Damocles,
- tact,
- tactfulness,
- taste,
- tastefulness,
- tender feeling,
- tenderheartedness,
- tenderness,
- tenuity,
- tetchiness,
- textualism,
- the letter,
- thin skin,
- thinness,
- thought,
- thoughtfulness,
- ticklish business,
- ticklishness,
- tidbit,
- tininess,
- titbit,
- toleration,
- totteriness,
- touchiness,
- treat,
- triviality,
- uncertainty,
- undependability,
- unhealthiness,
- unheaviness,
- unimportance,
- unpredictability,
- unreliability,
- unsafeness,
- unsolidity,
- unsoundness,
- unsteadiness,
- unsubstantiality,
- unsureness,
- untrustworthiness,
- unwholesomeness,
- vagueness,
- valetudinarianism,
- velleity,
- velvet,
- velvetiness,
- volatility,
- vulnerability,
- warm heart,
- warmheartedness,
- wasting,
- wateriness,
- weakliness,
- weakness,
- weightlessness,
- wide margin,
- wispiness,
- womanishness,
- yeastiness