4 meanings
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1 —as in:
eat the delicacy
Definition
something that is rare or expensive — usually a prized food- Chocolate covered ants are a delicacy of Columbia's Guane Indians.
delicacy = a rare and expensive type of food
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- They serve bird nest soup and other Chinese delicacies.
- Mathilde suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born to enjoy all delicacies and all luxuries.Guy de Maupassant -- The Diamond Necklace
- Ekwefi even gave her such delicacies as eggs, which children were rarely allowed to eat because such food tempted them to steal.Chinua Achebe -- Things Fall Apart
- She said "Cokes and peanuts" the way you might say "snot and boogers."
August laughed. "They don't know a delicacy when they see one, do they, Lily?"Sue Monk Kidd -- The Secret Life of Bees - All year, the Capitol will show the winning district gifts of grain and oil and even delicacies like sugar while the rest of us battle starvation.Suzanne Collins -- The Hunger Games
- He brought delicacies of the gods — wine stolen from Zeus' own stores, the sweetest honey of Mount Hybla, where the bees drink only thyme and linden blossoms.Madeline Miller -- Circe
- Redd's soldiers helped themselves to wondercrumpets, fried dormice, and whatever other delicacies they could find, and none too delicately shoved them into their mouths.Frank Beddor -- The Looking Glass Wars
- Her Missionary Society refreshments added to her reputation as a hostess (she did not permit Calpurnia to make the delicacies required to sustain the Society through long reports on Rice Christians); she joined and became Secretary of the Maycomb Amanuensis Club.Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird
- He bought his newspaper in one shop, read it with morning coffee in a tiny café that also offered old watercolour paintings for sale; took a turn in the park; shopped for delicacies in the various food shops.V.S. Naipaul -- A Bend in the River
delicacies = rare and expensive types of food
delicacies = things of high quality — such as expensive foods
delicacies = prized foods
delicacy = delicious food that is rarely available
delicacies = things that are rare or expensive
delicacies = prized foods
delicacies = prized foods
delicacies = prized foods
delicacies = rare and expensive types of foods
2 —as in:
discuss with delicacy
Definition
care and gentleness — especially speaking or acting with sensitivity and tact- She is admired for her delicacy in negotiations.
delicacy = sensitivity and tact
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- If you act like a bull in a china shop, the negotiations will fail. Delicacy is required.
- . . . it is happy for you that you possess the talent of flattering with delicacy. May I ask whether these pleasing attentions proceed from the impulse of the moment, or are the result of previous study?Jane Austen -- Pride and Prejudice
- Miss Bartlett, though skilled in the delicacies of conversation, was powerless in the presence of brutality.E.M. Forster -- A Room With A View
- I saw a delicacy in him that I had never seen on the coast. His manners were like a form of consideration; and however small the occasion, his manners never failed.V.S. Naipaul -- A Bend in the River
- Delicacy to her parents made her careful not to betray such a preference of her uncle's house.Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park
- Mr. Morris, with instinctive delicacy, just laid a hand for a moment on his shoulder, and then walked quietly out of the room.Bram Stoker -- Dracula
- A succulent hash arrived, and Mr. Wolfshiem, forgetting the more sentimental atmosphere of the old Metropole, began to eat with ferocious delicacy.F. Scott Fitzgerald -- The Great Gatsby
- It was not an age of delicacy; and her position, although she understood it well, and was in little danger of forgetting it, was often brought before her vivid self-perception, like a new anguish, by the rudest touch upon the tenderest spot.Nathaniel Hawthorne -- The Scarlet Letter
- I look past her, into the distance as I've been trained to, and her cold glare bores into me with the delicacy of a blunt knife.Sabaa Tahir -- An Ember in the Ashes
delicacy = sensitivity and tact
delicacy = sensitivity and tact
delicacy = care and gentleness
delicacy = care and gentleness
delicacy = sensitivity and tact
delicacy = gentleness
3 —as in:
offend her delicacy
Definition
the quality of being easily hurt or damaged(often referring to the fragility of someone's emotional well being when it is easily distressed by something that is offensive or disturbing)
- My mother does not watch R-rated movies. She says they offend her sense of modesty and delicacy.
delicacy = fragility of emotional well being that is easily distressed by something that is offensive or disturbing
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- The delicacy of the artifacts makes them difficult to move.
- There was a certain delicacy to the way he moved—as though he might easily break.
- ...if you destroy delicacy and a sense of shame in a young girl, you deprave her very fast.Harriet Beecher Stowe -- Uncle Tom's Cabin
delicacy = fragility
delicacy = fragility
4 —as in:
delicacy of the brushwork
Definition
pleasant subtlety or fineness- The lacework was done with great delicacy.
delicacy = pleasant subtlety or fineness
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- Her delicacy in blending flavors makes her an outstanding chef.
- ...if indeed he has now delicacy of language enough to embody his own ideas.Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park
- I could see pieces of Pasiphae in her, but only if I searched: her chin, the delicacy of her collarbone.Madeline Miller -- Circe
- My attention was fixed upon every object the most insupportable to the delicacy of the human feelings.Mary Shelley -- Frankenstein
- I cut open her shirt with my dagger, jolted for a moment by the delicacy of her skin.Sabaa Tahir -- An Ember in the Ashes
- She was nice only from natural delicacy, but he had been brought up in a school of luxury and epicurism.Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park
- He, who had married a daughter to Mr. Rushworth: romantic delicacy was certainly not to be expected from him.Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park
- I have seen good actresses fail in the part. Simplicity, indeed, is beyond the reach of almost every actress by profession. It requires a delicacy of feeling which they have not.Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park
- She had none of Fanny's delicacy of taste, of mind, of feeling; she saw Nature, inanimate Nature, with little observation; her attention was all for men and women, her talents for the light and lively.Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park
delicacy = pleasant subtlety or fineness
delicacy = subtlety or fineness
delicacy = pleasant subtlety or fineness
delicacy = subtlety or fineness
delicacy = subtlety of taste
delicacy = pleasant subtlety or fineness
delicacy = pleasant subtlety or fineness
delicacy = pleasant subtlety or fineness
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