Exquisite vs. Delicacy — What's the Difference?

Characterized by highly skilled or intricate art; excellently made or formed

A delicacy is usually a rare or expensive food item that is considered highly desirable, sophisticated or peculiarly distinctive, within a given culture. Irrespective of local preferences, such a label is typically pervasive throughout a region.

Extremely or delightfully beautiful

The quality of being delicate.

Excellent or outstanding, especially by exhibiting or appealing to refined taste

Something pleasing and appealing, especially a choice food.

Extremely subtle or precise

Fineness of appearance, construction, or execution; elegance

Intense; keen

Frailty of bodily constitution or health.

(Obsolete) Ingeniously devised or thought out.

Sensitivity of perception, discrimination, or taste; refinement.

One who is excessively fastidious in dress, manners, or taste.

Sensitivity to the feelings of others; tact

Especially fine or pleasing; exceptional.

Sensitivity to what is proper; propriety.

(obsolete) Carefully adjusted; precise; accurate; exact.

Undue sensitivity to or concern with what may be considered offensive or improper; squeamishness

Recherché; far-fetched; abstruse.

The need for tact in treatment or handling

Of special beauty or rare excellence.

Sensitivity to very small changes; precision

Exceeding; extreme; keen, in a bad or a good sense.

The quality of being delicate.

Of delicate perception or close and accurate discrimination; not easy to satisfy; exact; fastidious.

Something appealing, usually a pleasing food, especially a choice dish of a certain culture suggesting rarity and refinement.

(rare) Fop, dandy.

Fineness or elegance of construction or appearance.

Carefully selected or sought out; hence, of distinguishing and surpassing quality; exceedingly nice; delightfully excellent; giving rare satisfaction; as, exquisite workmanship.

Frailty of health or fitness.

Exceeding; extreme; keen; - used in a bad or a good sense; as, exquisite pain or pleasure.

Refinement in taste or discrimination.

Of delicate perception or close and accurate discrimination; not easy to satisfy; exact; nice; fastidious; as, exquisite judgment, taste, or discernment.

Tact and propriety; the need for such tact.

One who manifests an exquisite attention to external appearance; one who is overnice in dress or ornament; a fop; a dandy.

The state or condition of being delicate; agreeableness to the senses; delightfulness; as, delicacy of flavor, of odor, and the like.

Intense or sharp;

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.

Lavishly elegant and refined

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.

Of delicate composition and artistry;

Addiction to pleasure; luxury; daintiness; indulgence; luxurious or voluptuous treatment.

Of extreme beauty;

Nice and refined perception and discrimination; critical niceness; fastidious accuracy.

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

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.

Pleasure; gratification; delight.

The quality of being beautiful and delicate in appearance;

Something considered choice to eat

Refined taste; tact

Smallness of stature

Lack of physical strength

Subtly skillful handling of a situation

Lightness in movement or manner