indelicate

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ɪnˈdɛlɪkət/ UK /ɪnˈdɛlɪkət/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
lacking tact, refinement, or modesty

It was rather indelicate of him to ask about her salary.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · lacking tact, refinement,... tactless coarse crude immodest unrefined improper

Opposites

delicate tactful refined modest decorous

Word family

Derived forms indelicatelyindelicacy

Related forms delicate delicacy

Etymology

From in- ('not') + delicate, from Latin delicatus ('giving pleasure, dainty'), of uncertain origin, perhaps related to deliciae ('delights').

delicatus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# indelicate

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ɪnˈdɛlɪkət/
**IPA (UK):** /ɪnˈdɛlɪkət/

## Meanings
1. lacking tact, refinement, or modesty

## Examples
- It was rather indelicate of him to ask about her salary.

## Synonyms
- tactless
- coarse
- crude
- immodest
- unrefined
- improper

## Antonyms
- delicate
- tactful
- refined
- modest
- decorous

## Derived Forms
- indelicately
- indelicacy

## Related Forms
- delicate
- delicacy

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: delicatus

## Etymology
From in- ('not') + delicate, from Latin delicatus ('giving pleasure, dainty'), of uncertain origin, perhaps related to deliciae ('delights').

## AI Etymology
indelicate comes from in- ('not') + delicate, from Latin delicatus ('giving pleasure, dainty'), of uncertain origin, perhaps related to deliciae ('delights'). Morphologically, the prefixed shape matters: the initial element belongs to the recorded formation and helps explain the modern form's surface analysis. The etymology remains cautious where the history is cautious: comparisons, echoic formation, or disputed derivation do not make the ancestry more definite than the forms actually named. In present English, the adjective sense is "lacking tact, refinement, or modesty", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as delicate and delicacy, and in derivatives such as indelicately and indelicacy. Its semantic neighborhood includes tactless, coarse, crude, and immodest, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Latin delicatus.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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