[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

delicacy \del"icacy\, n.; pl. delicacies. from delicate,
   a.
   1. the state or condition of being delicate; agreeableness to
      the senses; delightfulness; as, delicacy of flavor, of
      odor, and the like.
      1913 webster

            what choice to choose for delicacy best. --milton.
      1913 webster

   2. nicety or fineness of form, texture, or constitution;
      softness; elegance; smoothness; tenderness; and hence,
      frailty or weakness; as, the delicacy of a fiber or a
      thread; delicacy of a hand or of the human form; delicacy
      of the skin; delicacy of frame.
      1913 webster

   3. nice propriety of manners or conduct; susceptibility or
      tenderness of feeling; refinement; fastidiousness; and
      hence, in an exaggerated sense, effeminacy; as, great
      delicacy of behavior; delicacy in doing a kindness;
      delicacy of character that unfits for earnest action.
      1913 webster

            you know your mother's delicacy in this point.
                                                  --cowper.
      1913 webster

   4. addiction to pleasure; luxury; daintiness; indulgence;
      luxurious or voluptuous treatment.
      1913 webster

            and to those dainty limbs which nature lent
            for gentle usage and soft delicacy?   --milton.
      1913 webster

   5. nice and refined perception and discrimination; critical
      niceness; fastidious accuracy.
      1913 webster

            that augustan delicacy of taste which is the boast
            of the great public schools of england. --macaulay.
      1913 webster

   6. the state of being affected by slight causes;
      sensitiveness; as, the delicacy of a chemist's balance.
      1913 webster

   7. that which is alluring, delicate, or refined; a luxury or
      pleasure; something pleasant to the senses, especially to
      the sense of taste; a dainty; as, delicacies of the table.
      1913 webster

            the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through
            the abundance of her delicacies.      --rev. xviii.
                                                  3.
      1913 webster

   8. pleasure; gratification; delight. obs.
      1913 webster

            he rome brent for his delicacie.      --chaucer.

   syn: see dainty.
        1913 webster
see also:
delicacies delicate dainty 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

delicacy
     n 1: the quality of being beautiful and delicate in appearance;
          "the daintiness of her touch"; "the fineness of her
          features" syn: daintiness, fineness
     2: something considered choice to eat syn: dainty, goody,
        kickshaw, treat
     3: refined taste; tact syn: discretion
     4: smallness of stature syn: slightness
     5: lack of physical strength syn: fragility
     6: subtly skillful handling of a situation syn: diplomacy, discreetness,
         finesse
     7: lightness in movement or manner syn: airiness
see also:
daintiness fineness dainty goody kickshaw treat 
discretion slightness fragility diplomacy discreetness 
finesse airiness 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

385 moby thesaurus words for "delicacy":
   absoluteness, accommodatingness, accuracy, acquired taste,
   affectivity, agreeableness, airiness, airy texture, allergy,
   ambrosia, amiable weakness, anaphylaxis, appreciation,
   appreciation of differences, appreciation of excellence,
   appreciativeness, artistic judgment, ascent, attention to detail,
   attention to fact, attentiveness, attenuation, banquet, beauty,
   bonne bouche, breakability, breakableness, brittleness, bubbliness,
   buoyancy, cachexia, cachexy, care for truth, cate, chanciness,
   changeableness, choice morsel, choiceness, chronic ill health,
   circumstantiality, civilized taste, civilizedness, collapse,
   complaisance, concern, connoisseurship, conscientiousness,
   considerateness, consideration, correctness, cosseting,
   crackability, crackableness, crispness, critical niceness,
   criticality, criticalness, crumbliness, crushability,
   crushableness, cultivated taste, cultivation, culture, cunningness,
   cuteness, daintiness, dainty, debilitation, debility, decency,
   decorousness, decorum, decrepitude, delicate distinction,
   delicate health, delicateness, dessert, destructibility, detail,
   diaphanousness, differentia, differential, difficulty, dilutedness,
   dilution, diminutiveness, discriminating taste, discriminatingness,
   discrimination, discriminativeness, disintegration, distinction,
   doubtfulness, down, downiness, dubiousness, easiness, effeminacy,
   elegance, empathy, enervation, ethereality, exactingness,
   exactitude, exactness, excellence, exhaustion, exiguity,
   exiguousness, exility, exquisiteness, faithfulness, fastidiousness,
   faultlessness, feast, featheriness, feebleness, feel, feeling,
   fewness, fidelity, filminess, fine palate, fine point,
   fine-grainedness, fineness, finesse, finicality, finicalness,
   finickiness, finickingness, fissility, flawlessness, flimsiness,
   floatability, flossiness, fluff, fluffiness, foaminess, fondness,
   fracturableness, fragility, frailness, frailty, frangibility,
   friability, frothiness, fussiness, fuzz, fuzziness, gauziness,
   gentleness, good taste, goody, gossameriness, grace, gracefulness,
   gracility, graciosity, graciousness, hairline, hazardousness,
   healthlessness, heedfulness, helpfulness, human frailty,
   hyperesthesia, hyperpathia, hypersensitivity, hypochondria,
   hypochondriasis, identification, ill health, impressionability,
   inconsequentiality, inconsiderableness, indecisiveness, indulgence,
   infirmity, infirmity of will, inherent vice, insecurity,
   insignificance, insolidity, instability, insubstantiality,
   insufficiency, invalidism, invalidity, irresolution, irritability,
   judiciousness, laciness, lack of weight, languishing, languishment,
   leniency, levitation, levity, lightness, literalism, literality,
   literalness, littleness, luxury, making distinctions, manna,
   margin, mathematical precision, meagerness, meanness, mellowness,
   meticulousness, mindfulness, minuteness, mistiness, moderateness,
   modesty, moral weakness, morbidezza, morbidity, morbidness, morsel,
   narrow margin, nectar, nervousness, nice distinction, niceness,
   niceness of distinction, nicety, nonresistiveness, nonrigidity,
   nuance, obligingness, oversensibility, oversensitiveness,
   overtenderness, palate, paperiness, particle of difference,
   particularity, particularness, passibility, peach fuzz, peakedness,
   perceptiveness, perceptivity, perfection, perilousness, pettiness,
   photophobia, picayunishness, plushiness, point of difference,
   polish, poor health, precariousness, preciseness, precisianism,
   precision, prickliness, propriety, pubescence, pudency, pudicity,
   pulpiness, punctiliousness, punctuality, puniness, quality, rarity,
   refined discrimination, refined palate, refinement, regale, regard,
   regardfulness, responsiveness, right, rightness, rigidity,
   rigidness, rigor, rigorousness, riskiness, satin, satininess,
   savory, scantiness, scrupulosity, scrupulousness, seemliness,
   selectiveness, sense, sensibility, sensitiveness, sensitivity,
   sensitization, severity, shade of difference, shakiness, shame,
   sickliness, silk, silkiness, sleaziness, slenderness, slightness,
   slimness, slipperiness, smallness, smoothness, softheartedness,
   softness, solicitousness, solicitude, sophistication, soreness,
   sponginess, strictness, subtility, subtle distinction, subtlety,
   supersensitivity, susceptibility, sweetmeat, sword of damocles,
   tact, tactfulness, taste, tastefulness, tender feeling,
   tenderheartedness, tenderness, tenuity, tetchiness, textualism,
   the letter, thin skin, thinness, thought, thoughtfulness,
   ticklish business, ticklishness, tidbit, tininess, titbit,
   toleration, totteriness, touchiness, treat, triviality,
   uncertainty, undependability, unhealthiness, unheaviness,
   unimportance, unpredictability, unreliability, unsafeness,
   unsolidity, unsoundness, unsteadiness, unsubstantiality,
   unsureness, untrustworthiness, unwholesomeness, vagueness,
   valetudinarianism, velleity, velvet, velvetiness, volatility,
   vulnerability, warm heart, warmheartedness, wasting, wateriness,
   weakliness, weakness, weightlessness, wide margin, wispiness,
   womanishness, yeastiness

Delicacy >> D Words
Delicacy, definition of term: Delicacy
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