1. (a.) Addicted to pleasure; luxurious; voluptuous; alluring.

2. (a.) Pleasing to the senses; refinedly agreeable; hence, adapted to please a nice or cultivated taste; nice; fine; elegant; as, a delicate dish; delicate flavor.

3. (a.) Slight and shapely; lovely; graceful; as, a delicate creature.

4. (a.) Fine or slender; minute; not coarse; -- said of a thread, or the like; as, delicate cotton.

5. (a.) Slight or smooth; light and yielding; -- said of texture; as, delicate lace or silk.

6. (a.) Soft and fair; -- said of the skin or a surface; as, a delicate cheek; a delicate complexion.

7. (a.) Light, or softly tinted; -- said of a color; as, a delicate blue.

8. (a.) Refined; gentle; scrupulous not to trespass or offend; considerate; -- said of manners, conduct, or feelings; as, delicate behavior; delicate attentions; delicate thoughtfulness.

9. (a.) Tender; not able to endure hardship; feeble; frail; effeminate; -- said of constitution, health, etc.; as, a delicate child; delicate health.

10. (a.) Requiring careful handling; not to be rudely or hastily dealt with; nice; critical; as, a delicate subject or question.

11. (a.) of exacting tastes and habits; dainty; fastidious.

12. (a.) Nicely discriminating or perceptive; refinedly critical; sensitive; exquisite; as, a delicate taste; a delicate ear for music.

13. (a.) Affected by slight causes; showing slight changes; as, a delicate thermometer.

14. (n.) A choice dainty; a delicacy.

15. (n.) A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.

Herculean Victorian abstruse accommodating accommodative accurate adept aerial agreeable airy allergic ambrosial anaphylactic appreciative arduous attentive attenuate attenuated balmy becoming boyish breakable brittle brittle as glass brutal careful cautious cheap-jack civilized close cobwebby complaisant complex conscientious considerate constant correct coy crackable creamy crisp crispy critical crumbly crushable cultivated cultured cunning cute dainty dangerous debilitated decent decorous decrepit delectable delicat delicately weak delicious delightful demanding demure detailed diaphanous differential difficile difficult diluted diplomatic direct discerning discreet discriminate discriminating discriminative distinctive distinguishing downy easy effeminate eggshell elegant emotionable empathetic empathic enfeebled ethereal even exact exacting exigent expert express exquisite faint faithful fastidious feeble filmy fine fine-drawn fine-grained finespun finical finicking finicky fissile flat flimsy fluffy foresighted formidable fracturable fragile frail frangible friable fussy fuzzy gauzy gentle gimcrack gimcracky girlish gloss good good to eat good-tasting goosy gossamer gossamery graceful gracile gracious gradual gustable gusty hair-trigger hairline hairsplitting hairy hard hard-earned hard-fought heedful helpful hyperesthetic hyperpathic hypersensitive impressionable indulgent inerrable inerrant infallible infirm insubstantial intricate iridescent irritable itchy jawbreaking jerry jerry-built juicy knotted knotty laborious lacerable lacy lenient light lightweight likable luscious lush masterly mathematical mean mellow mellowy meticulous micrometrically precise microscopic mignon mild mindful mindful of others minute misty modest mollified mother-of-pearl muted nacreous namby-pamby narrow nervous nice no picnic nonresistive nonrigid not easy obliging of gourmet quality on slippery ground on thin ice opalescent operose overrefined oversensible oversensitive overtender palatable pale papery particular passible pasteboardy pastel patinaed pearly perceptive perishable persnickety pinpoint pleasing polished politic precarious precise precisianistic precisionistic prickly proficient proper prudent prudish pubescent punctilious punctual puny puristic queasy quiet rare rarefied receptive recherche refined regardful religious religiously exact responsive rigid