different between delicate vs sheer
delicate
English
Etymology
From Middle English delicat, from Latin delicatus (“giving pleasure, delightful, soft, luxurious, delicate, in Medieval Latin also fine, slender”), from delicia, usually in plural deliciae (“pleasure, delight, luxury”), from delicere (“to allure”), from de (“away”) + lacere (“to allure, entice”). Compare Spanish delgado (“thin, skinny”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?d?l?k?t/
Adjective
delicate (comparative more delicate, superlative most delicate)
- Easily damaged or requiring careful handling.
- Characterized by a fine structure or thin lines.
- Intended for use with fragile items.
- Refined; gentle; scrupulous not to trespass or offend; considerate; said of manners, conduct, or feelings.
- Of weak health; easily sick; unable to endure hardship.
- (informal) Unwell, especially because of having drunk too much alcohol.
- Please don't speak so loudly: I'm feeling a bit delicate this morning.
- (obsolete) Addicted to pleasure; luxurious; voluptuous; alluring.
- circa 1660, John Evelyn (author), William Bray (editor), The Diary of John Evelyn, volume I of II (1901), entry for the 19th of August in 1641, page 29:
- Haerlem is a very delicate town and hath one of the fairest churches of the Gothic design I had ever seen.
- circa 1660, John Evelyn (author), William Bray (editor), The Diary of John Evelyn, volume I of II (1901), entry for the 19th of August in 1641, page 29:
- Pleasing to the senses; refined; adapted to please an elegant or cultivated taste.
- Slight and shapely; lovely; graceful.
- circa 1603, William Shakespeare, Othello, act II, scene iii, lines 18 and 20–21:
- Cassio: She’s a most exquisite lady.…Indeed, she’s a most fresh and delicate creature.
- circa 1603, William Shakespeare, Othello, act II, scene iii, lines 18 and 20–21:
- Light, or softly tinted; said of a colour.
- Of exacting tastes and habits; dainty; fastidious.
- Highly discriminating or perceptive; refinedly critical; sensitive; exquisite.
- Affected by slight causes; showing slight changes.
Synonyms
- (easily damaged): fragile
Related terms
- delicacy
- delicately
- delicatessen
- delicious
- delight
Translations
Noun
delicate (plural delicates)
- A delicate item of clothing, especially underwear or lingerie.
- (obsolete) A choice dainty; a delicacy.
- (obsolete) A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.
Further reading
- delicate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- delicate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /de.li?ka.te/
Adjective
delicate
- feminine plural of delicato
Anagrams
- dateceli
Latin
Adjective
d?lic?te
- vocative masculine singular of d?lic?tus
References
- delicate in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- delicate in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- delicate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
Romanian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /deli?kate/
Adjective
delicate
- feminine plural nominative of delicat
- feminine plural accusative of delicat
- neuter plural nominative of delicat
- neuter plural accusative of delicat
delicate From the web:
- what delicate mean
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- delicatessen meaning
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sheer
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /????/
- (US) IPA(key): /???/
- Rhymes: -??(?)
- Homophone: shear
Etymology 1
From Middle English shere, scheere, schere, skere, from Old English s??re; merged with Middle English schyre, schire, shire, shir, from Old English s??r (“clear, bright; brilliant, gleaming, shining, splendid, resplendent; pure”) and Middle English skyr, from Old Norse skírr (“pure, bright, clear”), both from Proto-Germanic *sk?riz (“pure, sheer”) and *skairiz, from Proto-Indo-European *s??y- (“luster, gloss, shadow”).
Cognate with Danish skær, German schier (“sheer”), Dutch schier (“almost”), Gothic ???????????????????????? (skeirs, “clear, lucid”). Outside Germanic, cognate to Albanian hir (“grace, beauty; goodwill”).
Adjective
sheer (comparative sheerer or more sheer, superlative sheerest or most sheer)
- (textiles) Very thin or transparent.
- (obsolete) Pure in composition; unmixed; unadulterated.
- c. 1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Induction, scene ii:
- If she say I am not fourteen pence on the score for sheer ale, score me up for the lying’st knave in Christendom.
- c. 1595, William Shakespeare, King Richard the Second, Act V, scene iii:
- Thou sheer, immaculate and silver fountain, / From when this stream through muddy passages / Hath held his current and defiled himself!
- c. 1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Induction, scene ii:
- (by extension) Downright; complete; pure.
- 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track
- Cycling's complex etiquette contains an unwritten rule that riders in contention for a race win should not be penalised for sheer misfortune.
- 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track
- Used to emphasize the amount or degree of something.
- 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "[4]," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):
- Perhaps as startling as the sheer toll was the devastation to some of the state’s well-known locales. Boardwalks along the beach in Seaside Heights, Belmar and other towns on the Jersey Shore were blown away. Amusement parks, arcades and restaurants all but vanished. Bridges to barrier islands buckled, preventing residents from even inspecting the damage to their property.
- 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "[4]," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):
- Very steep; almost vertical or perpendicular.
Synonyms
- (very thin or transparent): diaphanous, see-through, thin
- (pure, unmixed): pure, undiluted
- (downright, complete): downright, mere (obsolete), pure, unmitigated
- (straight up and down): perpendicular, steep, vertical
Derived terms
- sheerly
- sheerness
- sheer-to-waist
Translations
Adverb
sheer (comparative more sheer, superlative most sheer)
- (archaic) Clean; quite; at once.
Translations
Noun
sheer (plural sheers)
- A sheer curtain or fabric.
Translations
Etymology 2
Perhaps from Dutch scheren (“to move aside, skim”); see also shear.
Noun
sheer (plural sheers)
- (nautical) The curve of the main deck or gunwale from bow to stern.
- (nautical) An abrupt swerve from the course of a ship.
Translations
Verb
sheer (third-person singular simple present sheers, present participle sheering, simple past and past participle sheered)
- (chiefly nautical) To swerve from a course.
- (obsolete) To shear.
- So thick, our navy scarce could sheer their way
Translations
Further reading
- sheer at OneLook Dictionary Search
- Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “sheer”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
References
Anagrams
- Esher, Herse, Rhees, heers, here's, heres, herse
Burushaski
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [?e??]
Noun
sheer (plural sheerisho)
- lion
References
Sadaf Munshi (2015) , “Word Lists”, in Burushaski Language Documentation Project?[5].
Middle English
Noun
sheer
- Alternative form of shere
sheer From the web:
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- what sheer curtains
- what sheerness like
- what's sheer coverage
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