delicacy

1. 1.

   the quality of being beautiful and delicate in appearance

   “the daintiness of her touch”

   “the fineness of her features”

   Synonymsdaintinessfineness

   Broaderelegance
2. 2.

   something considered choice to eat

   Synonymsdaintygoodykickshawtreat

   Broadernutriment

   Narrowerchoice morselsavorysweetambrosiagelatinmarrow
3. 3.

   refined taste; tact

   Synonymsdiscretion

   Broadertaste
4. 4.

   smallness of stature

   Synonymsslightness

   Broadersmallness
5. 5.

   lack of physical strength

   Synonymsfragility

   Broaderweakness
6. 6.

   subtly skillful handling of a situation

   Synonymsdiplomacydiscreetnessfinesse

   Broadertact
7. 7.

   lightness in movement or manner

   Synonymsairiness

   Broaderliveliness

Other forms of delicacy

plural

delicacies·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about delicacy

What does delicacy mean?

delicacy means "the quality of being beautiful and delicate in appearance". That is the primary sense; the word has 7 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in delicacy?

delicacy has 4 syllables: del-i-ca-cy. The stress falls on "del". In IPA it is /ˈdɛləkəsi/.

What is another word for delicacy?

Close synonyms include daintiness, fineness, dainty, goody, kickshaw. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is delicacy a common word?

delicacy is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.