delicate -- (exquisitely fine and subtle and pleasing; susceptible to injury; "a delicate violin passage"; "delicate china"; "a delicate flavor"; "the delicate wing of a butterfly")
delicate -- (marked by great skill especially in meticulous technique; "a surgeon's delicate touch")
delicate, fragile, frail -- (easily broken or damaged or destroyed; "a kite too delicate to fly safely"; "fragile porcelain plates"; "fragile old bones"; "a frail craft")
finespun, delicate -- (developed with extreme delicacy and subtlety; "the satire touches with finespun ridicule every kind of human pretense")
delicate, ticklish, touchy -- (difficult to handle; requiring great tact; "delicate negotiations with the big powers";"hesitates to be explicit on so ticklish a matter"; "a touchy subject")
delicate -- (of an instrument or device; capable of registering minute differences or changes precisely; "almost undetectable with even the most delicate instruments")