All 12 Uses
delicacy
in
The Idiot
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- Besides tea and coffee, cheese, honey, butter, pan-cakes of various kinds (the lady of the house loved these best), cutlets, and so on, there was generally strong beef soup, and other substantial delicacies.†
Chpt 1.4 *
- She thanked him for his delicacy, however, but saw no reason why Gavrila Ardalionovitch should not know about it.†
Chpt 1.4
- And what delicacy and tenderness they showed!†
Chpt 1.6
- "It only remains for me, then, to thank Nastasia Philipovna for the great delicacy with which she has treated me," said Gania, as pale as death, and with quivering lips.†
Chpt 1.14
- If I wished to behave nobly, justly, and with delicacy, I ought to bestow half my fortune upon the son of my benefactor; but as economy is my favourite virtue, and I know this is not a case in which the law can intervene, I will not give up half my millions.†
Chpt 2.8
- The lawyer, who had taken up the matter purely out of friendship to the young man, and almost against his will, invoked every consideration of justice, delicacy, honour, and even plain figures; in vain, the ex-patient of the Swiss lunatic asylum was inflexible.†
Chpt 2.8
- According to my calculations, the sum spent on me was very considerably under ten thousand roubles, but I decided on that sum, and you must admit that in paying a debt I could not offer Mr. Burdovsky more, however kindly disposed I might be towards him; delicacy forbids it; I should seem to be offering him charity instead of rightful payment.†
Chpt 2.8
- Besides insulting Burdovsky with the supposition, made in the presence of witnesses, that he was suffering from the complaint for which he had himself been treated in Switzerland, he reproached himself with the grossest indelicacy in having offered him the ten thousand roubles before everyone.†
Chpt 2.8indelicacy = lacking sensitivity or tactstandard prefix: The prefix "in-" in indelicacy means not and reverses the meaning of delicacy. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
- Well, I bet now," he continued with an hysterical laugh, "that Burdovsky will accuse you of indelicacy, and reproach you with a want of respect for his mother!†
Chpt 2.10 *
- He took me all the way home; not attempting to console me, but behaving with the greatest delicacy.†
Chpt 3.6
- Yes, it shows delicacy and intelligence on your part.†
Chpt 3.9
- He confides in the delicacy of your feelings, and in your friendship for him.†
Chpt 4.3
Definitions:
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(1)
(delicacy as in: eat the delicacy) something that is rare or expensive -- usually a prized food
-
(2)
(delicacy as in: discuss with delicacy) care and gentleness -- especially speaking or acting with sensitivity and tact
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(3)
(delicacy as in: offend her delicacy) 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) -
(4)
(delicacy as in: delicacy of the brushwork) pleasant subtlety or fineness
- (5) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)