delicacy Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the quality of being beautiful and delicate in appearance
    fineness; daintiness.
    • the daintiness of her touch
    • the fineness of her features
  2. noun something considered choice to eat
    goody; kickshaw; treat; dainty.
  3. noun refined taste; tact
    discretion.
  4. noun smallness of stature
    slightness.
  5. noun lack of physical strength
    fragility.
  6. noun subtly skillful handling of a situation
    finesse; discreetness; diplomacy.
  7. noun lightness in movement or manner
    airiness.

WordNet

Del"i*ca*cy noun
Etymology
From Delicate, a.
Wordforms
plural Delicacies
Definitions
  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 1913