delicate
adj.adj. easily broken or damaged. You also use it to describe a situation that needs careful handling so people do not get upset.
adj. easily broken, damaged, or injured due to a fine or fragile structure; also used to describe situations requiring tact and sensitivity.
The glass vase is very delicate.
The diplomat handled the delicate negotiations with great care to avoid starting a conflict.
Restoring the centuries-old tapestry required a delicate touch, as the silk fibers had become brittle and prone to disintegrating under even slight pressure.
From Middle English delicat, from Latin dēlicātus (“giving pleasure, delightful, soft, luxurious, delicate, (in Medieval Latin also) fine, slender”), from dēlicia + -ātus (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), usually in plural dēliciae (“pleasure, delight, luxury”), from dēliciō (“to allure, entice”), from dē- (“away”) + laciō (“to lure, to deceive”), from Proto-Italic *lakjō (“to draw, pull”), of unknown ultimate origin. Compare delight, delicious and Spanish delgado (“thin, skinny”). The noun is from a substantivization of the adjective (see -ate).
Commonly modifies nouns related to physical objects, health, or social situations.