delicately
Americanadverb
-
in a careful way.
They stepped delicately among the brambles and exposed rocks.
Aggressive removal of the tumor must be delicately balanced with the risk of injury to adjacent normal tissue.
-
in a tactful or sensitive way.
Employee issues need to be managed delicately, with empathy and an open perspective.
-
in a faint, subtle, quiet, or barely perceptible way.
Dessert was perfection: perfectly moist and delicately flavored ricotta and rhubarb cakes with a big dollop of creamy vanilla mascarpone.
The eye-catching Himalayan honeysuckle has pendant spikes of deep red bracts with white, delicately scented flowers and red-purple berries.
-
showing or using precision or refinement.
The region is a famous center for embroidery and appliqué work, painted pottery, and delicately carved wooden doors.
Other Word Forms
- hyperdelicately adverb
- nondelicately adverb
- quasi-delicately adverb
- superdelicately adverb
Etymology
Origin of delicately
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
