Main entry: delicate
Definition: exquisitely fine and subtle and pleasing; susceptible to injury
Usage: a delicate violin passage; delicate china; a delicate flavor; the delicate wing of a butterfly
Main entry: delicate, fragile, frail
Definition: easily broken or damaged or destroyed
Usage: a kite too delicate to fly safely; fragile porcelain plates; fragile old bones; a frail craft
Main entry: delicate, touchy, ticklish
Definition: difficult to handle; requiring great tact
Usage: delicate negotiations with the big powers; hesitates to be explicit on so ticklish a matter; a touchy subject
Main entry: delicate, finespun
Definition: developed with extreme delicacy and subtlety
Usage: the satire touches with finespun ridicule every kind of human pretense
Main entry: delicate
Definition: of an instrument or device; capable of registering minute differences or changes precisely
Usage: almost undetectable with even the most delicate instruments
Main entry: delicate
Definition: marked by great skill especially in meticulous technique
Usage: a surgeon's delicate touch
Definition: easily hurt
Usage: soft hands; a baby's delicate skin