All 26 Uses of
delicacy
in
Mansfield Park
- My dear Sir Thomas, I perfectly comprehend you, and do justice to the generosity and delicacy of your notions, which indeed are quite of a piece with your general conduct; and I entirely agree with you in the main as to the propriety of doing everything one could by way of providing for a child one had in a manner taken into one's own hands; and I am sure I should be the last person in the world to withhold my mite upon such an occasion.
Chpt 1 (definition 1)delicacy = care and gentleness
- It is a point of great delicacy, and you must assist us in our endeavours to choose exactly the right line of conduct.
Chpt 1 (definition 1)delicacy = requiring care and gentleness
- 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.
Chpt 8 (definition 2)delicacy = pleasant subtlety or fineness
- But dear Maria has such a strict sense of propriety, so much of that true delicacy which one seldom meets with nowadays, Mrs. Rushworth—that wish of avoiding particularity!
Chpt 12 (definition 1)delicacy = care and gentleness
- Julia did seem inclined to admit that Maria's situation might require particular caution and delicacy—but that could not extend to her—she was at liberty; and Maria evidently considered her engagement as only raising her so much more above restraint, and leaving her less occasion than Julia to consult either father or mother.
Chpt 13 (definition 1)
- 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.
Chpt 14 (definition 2)delicacy = pleasant subtlety or fineness
- "I am sorry for it," was his answer; "but in this matter it is you who are to lead. You must set the example. If others have blundered, it is your place to put them right, and shew them what true delicacy is."
Chpt 15 (definition 1)delicacy = refined, gentle behavior
- The play will be given up, and your delicacy honoured as it ought.
Chpt 15 (definition 1)
- And then he would have changed the subject, and sipped his coffee in peace over domestic matters of a calmer hue; but Mr. Yates, without discernment to catch Sir Thomas's meaning, or diffidence, or delicacy, or discretion enough to allow him to lead the discourse while he mingled among the others with the least obtrusiveness himself, would keep him on the topic of the theatre, would torment him with questions and remarks relative to it, and finally would make him hear the whole history…
Chpt 19 (definition 1)delicacy = gentle manners
- To be a second time disappointed in the same way was an instance of very severe ill-luck; and his indignation was such, that had it not been for delicacy towards his friend, and his friend's youngest sister, he believed he should certainly attack the baronet on the absurdity of his proceedings, and argue him into a little more rationality.
Chpt 20 (definition 1)
- She certainly understands you better than you are understood by the greater part of those who have known you so long; and with regard to some others, I can perceive, from occasional lively hints, the unguarded expressions of the moment, that she could define many as accurately, did not delicacy forbid it.
Chpt 21 (definition 1)
- With all the security which love of another and disesteem of him could give to the peace of mind he was attacking, his continued attentions—continued, but not obtrusive, and adapting themselves more and more to the gentleness and delicacy of her character—obliged her very soon to dislike him less than formerly.
Chpt 24 (definition 1)delicacy = refined subtlety, sensibility, and manners
- I would not have the shadow of a coolness between the two whose intimacy I have been observing with the greatest pleasure, and in whose characters there is so much general resemblance in true generosity and natural delicacy as to make the few slight differences, resulting principally from situation, no reasonable hindrance to a perfect friendship.
Chpt 27 (definition 1)delicacy = care and gentleness
- But it was not to be avoided: he made her feel that she was the object of all; though she could not say that it was unpleasantly done, that there was indelicacy or ostentation in his manner; and sometimes, when he talked of William, he was really not unagreeable, and shewed even a warmth of heart which did him credit.†
Chpt 28 (definition 1)
- ...if indeed he has now delicacy of language enough to embody his own ideas.
Chpt 30 (definition 2) *delicacy = subtlety or fineness
- She considered it all as nonsense, as mere trifling and gallantry, which meant only to deceive for the hour; she could not but feel that it was treating her improperly and unworthily, and in such a way as she had not deserved; but it was like himself, and entirely of a piece with what she had seen before; and she would not allow herself to shew half the displeasure she felt, because he had been conferring an obligation, which no want of delicacy on his part could make a trifle to her.
Chpt 31 (definition 1)delicacy = care and gentleness
- Upon my representation of what you were suffering, he immediately, and with the greatest delicacy, ceased to urge to see you for the present.
Chpt 32 (definition 1)
- He was in love, very much in love; and it was a love which, operating on an active, sanguine spirit, of more warmth than delicacy, made her affection appear of greater consequence because it was withheld, and determined him to have the glory, as well as the felicity, of forcing her to love him.
Chpt 33 (definition 1)
- He had every well-grounded reason for solid attachment; he knew her to have all the worth that could justify the warmest hopes of lasting happiness with her; her conduct at this very time, by speaking the disinterestedness and delicacy of her character (qualities which he believed most rare indeed), was of a sort to heighten all his wishes, and confirm all his resolutions.
Chpt 33 (definition 2)delicacy = pleasant subtlety or fineness
- Here was again a want of delicacy and regard for others which had formerly so struck and disgusted her.
Chpt 33 (definition 1)delicacy = care and gentleness
- He, who had married a daughter to Mr. Rushworth: romantic delicacy was certainly not to be expected from him.
Chpt 33 (definition 2)delicacy = pleasant subtlety or fineness
- Her influence, or at least the consciousness and use of it, originated in an act of kindness by Susan, which, after many hesitations of delicacy, she at last worked herself up to.
Chpt 40 (definition 1)delicacy = care not to hurt any feelings
- Susan shewed that she had delicacy: pleased as she was to be mistress of property which she had been struggling for at least two years, she yet feared that her sister's judgment had been against her, and that a reproof was designed her for having so struggled as to make the purchase necessary for the tranquillity of the house.
Chpt 40 (definition 1)delicacy = desire to be well-mannered
- She was nice only from natural delicacy, but he had been brought up in a school of luxury and epicurism.
Chpt 41 (definition 2)delicacy = subtlety of taste
- Delicacy to her parents made her careful not to betray such a preference of her uncle's house.
Chpt 45 (definition 1) *delicacy = care and gentleness
- I do not consider her as meaning to wound my feelings. The evil lies yet deeper: in her total ignorance, unsuspiciousness of there being such feelings; ... Hers are faults of principle, Fanny; of blunted delicacy and a corrupted, vitiated mind.
Chpt 47 (definition 2)delicacy = pleasant subtlety or fineness
Definitions:
-
(1) (delicacy as in: discuss with delicacy) care and gentleness -- especially speaking or acting with sensitivity and tact
-
(2) (delicacy as in: delicacy of the brushwork) pleasant subtlety or fineness