- (a.) Nice and refined perception and discrimination; critical niceness; fastidious accuracy.
- (a.) The state of being affected by slight causes; sensitiveness; as, the delicacy of a chemist's balance.
- (a.) The state or condition of being delicate; agreeableness to the senses; delightfulness; as, delicacy of flavor, of odor, and the like.
- (a.) Pleasure; gratification; delight.
- (a.) 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.
- (a.) Addiction to pleasure; luxury; daintiness; indulgence; luxurious or voluptuous treatment.
- (a.) 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.
- (a.) 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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
| APA | Webster's. (2011). delicacy. Retrieved September 25, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/delicacy/definitions/1995662 |
| Chicago | Webster's. 2011. "delicacy" http://smartdefine.org/delicacy/definitions/1995662 (accessed September 25, 2026). |
| Harvard | Webster's 2011, delicacy, Smart Define, viewed 25 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/delicacy/definitions/1995662>. |
| MLA | Webster's. "delicacy" 27 May 2011. Web. 25 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/delicacy/definitions/1995662> |