Delicate - English meaning

adjective

(of a room or building) spacious, well lit, and well ventilated.

Usage examples:

The conservatory is light and airy

adjective

With a lot of light and space

Usage examples:

The new offices are light and airy.

adjective

Delicate, as if full of air

Usage examples:

A light, airy fabric

adjective

Causing difficulty; hard to do or deal with.

Usage examples:

Some awkward questions

adjective

Difficult to use, do, or deal with

Usage examples:

It's an awkward corner, so take it slowly., some of the questions were rather awkward., it was an a…

adjective

Causing problems, worry, or embarrassment

Usage examples:

Awkward position the government finds itself in a very awkward position., awkward situation he put …

adjective

Capable of breaking or being broken easily.

Usage examples:

Breakable ornaments

plural noun

Things which are fragile and easily broken.

Usage examples:

Breakables, like china, should be padded thoroughly and placed in smaller boxes

adjective

Something that is breakable might easily break

Usage examples:

Do you have anything breakable in your bag?

adjective

Giving rise or likely to give rise to controversy or public disagreement.

Usage examples:

Years of wrangling over a controversial bypass

adjective

Causing or likely to cause disagreement

Usage examples:

A controversial theory/movie, they are also very controversially talking about taxing social securi…

adjective

Causing disagreement or discussion

Usage examples:

A controversial issue/decision/speech/figure, the book was very controversial.

adjective

Delicately small and pretty.

Usage examples:

A dainty lace handkerchief

noun

Something good to eat; a delicacy.

Usage examples:

Home-made breads, jams, and dainties

adjective

Small and attractive in a delicate way

Usage examples:

A dainty wrist/hand, dainty flowers

adjective

(especially of fabric) light, delicate, and translucent.

Usage examples:

A diaphanous dress of pale gold

adjective

A diaphanous substance, especially cloth, is so delicate and thin that you can see through it

Usage examples:

A diaphanous silk veil

adjective

Unpredictable and potentially dangerous.

Usage examples:

Food supplies have been dicey in recent months

adjective

Not certain or safe; risky

Usage examples:

Things are going to be a bit dicey until we know whether the budget was approved.

adjective

Slightly dangerous or uncertain

Usage examples:

The company's finances look a little dicey.

adjective

Needing much effort or skill to accomplish, deal with, or understand.

Usage examples:

She had a difficult decision to make

adjective

Not easy or simple; hard to do or to understand

Usage examples:

It’s a difficult choice, but i’ve got to decide which job is better., he’s in a difficult situation…

adjective

Needing skill or effort

Usage examples:

A difficult problem/choice/task/language, [ + to infinitive ] it will be very difficult to prove th…

noun

The thin, hard outer layer of an egg, especially a hen's egg.

Usage examples:

Emily was peeling off her eggshell

adjective

The exterior covering of a bird's egg

noun

The hard outside covering of an egg

adjective

Graceful and stylish in appearance or manner.

Usage examples:

She will look elegant in black

adjective

Graceful and attractive in appearance or behavior

Usage examples:

We met a young businesswoman, elegant in a black suit., he was known for his elegance and wit., ele…

adjective

Graceful and attractive in appearance or behaviour

Usage examples:

An elegant woman, a very elegant suit, an elegant dining room

adjective

Causing embarrassment.

Usage examples:

An embarrassing muddle

verb

Cause (someone) to feel awkward, self-conscious, or ashamed.

Usage examples:

She wouldn't embarrass either of them by making a scene

adjective

Making you feel embarrassed

Usage examples:

An embarrassing situation, [ + to infinitive ] it's embarrassing to be caught telling a lie., my mo…

adjective

Arousing or able to arouse intense feeling.

Usage examples:

Animal experimentation is an emotive subject

adjective

Causing strong feelings

Usage examples:

Animal experimentation is a highly emotive issue.

adjective

Extremely beautiful and delicate.

Usage examples:

Exquisite, jewel-like portraits

noun

A man who is affectedly concerned with his clothes and appearance; a dandy.

Usage examples:

Using brightly coloured, almost grotesque distortion of an individual's salient features, he target…

adjective

Of extreme beauty

adjective

(especially of fabric) thin and translucent.

Usage examples:

Filmy white voile

adjective

Very thin and often transparent

Usage examples:

Filmy material, a filmy dress

adjective

Of very high quality; very good of its kind.

Usage examples:

This was a fine piece of film-making

noun

Very small particles found in mining, milling, etc.

Usage examples:

It raises dust, separating fines from aggregate.

adverb

In a satisfactory or pleasing manner; very well.

Usage examples:

‘and how's the job-hunting going?’ ‘oh, fine.’

adjective

Insubstantial and easily damaged.

Usage examples:

A flimsy barrier

noun

A document, especially a copy, made on very thin paper.

Usage examples:

Credit-card flimsies

adjective

(of material) very thin, or (of a structure or object) badly made and weak, and therefore easily broken or destroyed

Usage examples:

A flimsy dress, a flimsy building, they convicted the defendant on very flimsy evidence.

adjective

(especially of a woman's garment or a fabric) light and flimsy.

Usage examples:

Elegant floaty dresses

noun

An inflatable object on which a person may sit or recline while floating in water.

Usage examples:

She plopped down on a pool floatie

adjective

A floaty material is very light and moves in the air

Usage examples:

Floaty dresses, at age three, he ripped off his floaties and jumped into the deep end., there's onl…

adjective

(of an object) easily broken or damaged.

Usage examples:

Fragile items such as glass and china

adjective

Easily damaged, broken, or harmed

Usage examples:

A fragile piece of metal, their argument showed us just how fragile the teammate relationship can b…

adjective

Easily harmed, damaged, or broken

Usage examples:

The fragile economy is under the pressure of floods at home and rising oil prices abroad., the chan…

adjective

(of a person) weak and delicate.

Usage examples:

His small, frail body

noun

A woman.

Usage examples:

Cosmetic manufacturers will never go out of business because the frails will always want to look li…

adjective

Physically weak, or easily damaged, broken, or harmed

Usage examples:

He’s always in frail health., the shirt is old and frail, and the threads look ready to part.

adjective

Resembling gauze; thin and translucent.

Usage examples:

A gauzy dress

adjective

Made of a very thin, light cloth

Usage examples:

A gauzy yellow curtain hangs in the window., her hat had a white gauzy veil that protected her face.

noun

A fine, filmy substance consisting of cobwebs spun by small spiders, seen especially in autumn.

Usage examples:

So i made a classic cross-hair from spider's gossamer and used it to pinpoint a cell in the area i …

noun

The very thin thread that spiders produce to make webs

Usage examples:

Gossamer wings, a gossamer veil

adjective

Very delicate and light

Usage examples:

Gossamer wings, a gossamer veil

adjective

Having or showing grace or elegance.

Usage examples:

She was a tall girl, slender and graceful

adjective

Moving in a smooth, relaxed, attractive way, or having a smooth, attractive shape

Usage examples:

Graceful movements, a graceful neck

adjective

Behaving in a polite and pleasant way

Usage examples:

She finally apologized, but she wasn't very graceful about it.

adjective

Lacking strength and solidity.

Usage examples:

The huts are relatively few and insubstantial

adjective

Of little value or importance, or not being strong, solid, or large

Usage examples:

He was popular during the early part of the 20th century, but today his work seems dated and insubs…

adjective

Not enough or not strong enough

Usage examples:

An insubstantial meal, insubstantial evidence

adjective

Very complicated or detailed.

Usage examples:

An intricate network of canals

adjective

Having a lot of small parts or pieces arranged in a complicated way, and therefore sometimes difficult to understand in detail

Usage examples:

The novel’s intricate plot will not be easy to translate into a movie., the antique silver teapot i…

adjective

Having a lot of small parts that are arranged in a complicated or delicate way

Usage examples:

The watch mechanism is extremely intricate and very difficult to repair., the tiled floor is instal…

adjective

Thin and dry like paper.

Usage examples:

Papery onion skins

adjective

Thin and dry like paper

Usage examples:

The skin on his hands was wrinkled and papery.

adjective

Covered in prickles.

Usage examples:

Masses of prickly brambles

adjective

Having sharp points that stick out, or causing a stinging feeling

Usage examples:

A prickly cactus, the wool felt prickly and itchy against his skin.

adjective

Constituting or presenting a problem.

Usage examples:

The situation was problematic for teachers

noun

A thing that constitutes a problem.

Usage examples:

The problematics of artificial intelligence

adjective

Causing difficulty, or hard to deal with

Usage examples:

Social interactions are really problematic with a lot of children.

adjective

Involving or constituting a problem.

Usage examples:

The weighting of votes was particularly problematical

adjective

Causing difficulty, or hard to deal with

Usage examples:

Social interactions are really problematic with a lot of children.

adjective

Quick to detect or respond to slight changes, signals, or influences.

Usage examples:

The new method of protein detection was more sensitive than earlier ones

noun

A person who is believed to respond to paranormal influences.

Usage examples:

Thus, the positive results demonstrated by the sensitives do not appear to have resulted from ubiqu…

adjective

Having or showing awareness and understanding, esp. of other people’s feelings and needs

Usage examples:

My experience made me very sensitive to the suffering of others., tom is extremely sensitive about …

adjective

Of or resembling silk, especially in being soft, fine, and lustrous.

Usage examples:

The fur felt silky and soft

adjective

Made of silk, or soft and smooth like silk

Usage examples:

A silky nightgown, silky fabrics

adjective

Tending or designed to stick to things on contact.

Usage examples:

Sticky cakes and pastries

noun

A piece of paper with an adhesive strip on one side, used for leaving messages or reminders.

Usage examples:

Perfect pictures of sunny days, birthday parties and proms, of boyfriends, girlfriends and parents …

adjective

Difficult to deal with or solve

Usage examples:

A sticky situation, a sticky issue, you had better wash your sticky fingers.

adjective

With opposite surfaces or sides that are close or relatively close together.

Usage examples:

Thin slices of bread

adverb

With little thickness or depth.

Usage examples:

Cut the ham as thin as possible

verb

Make or become less dense, crowded, or numerous.

Usage examples:

The remorseless fire of archers thinned their ranks

adjective

(of a person) sensitive to being tickled.

Usage examples:

I'm ticklish on the feet

adjective

Easily upset or offended; oversensitive.

Usage examples:

She's a little touchy about her age

adjective

Easily angered or made unhappy

Usage examples:

She’s touchy about people borrowing her books., politics can be a very touchy subject in some famil…

adjective

(of a task, problem, etc.) requiring care and skill because difficult or awkward.

Usage examples:

Applying eyeliner can be a tricky business

adjective

(of a piece of work or a problem) difficult to deal with and needing careful attention or skill

Usage examples:

Removing scar tissue can be a very tricky operation., he’s a tricky fellow – you can’t always trust…

adjective

(of hair, threads, smoke, etc.) fine; feathery.

Usage examples:

The sky was blue with a few wispy clouds

adjective

In the form of a wisp or wisps

Usage examples:

A wispy cloud/fringe, wispy hair