Delicate vs Sheer - What's the difference?
delicate | sheer | Related terms |
Easily damaged or requiring careful handling.
* F. W. Robertson
* {{quote-news
, year=2012
, date=April 23
, author=Angelique Chrisafis
, title=François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election
, work=the Guardian
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.
* Shakespeare
(informal) Unwell, especially because of having drunk too much alcohol.
(obsolete) Addicted to pleasure; luxurious; voluptuous; alluring.
* 1360–1387 , (William Langland), (Piers Plowman) (C-text),
* circa'' 1660 , (John Evelyn) (author), , volume I of II (1901), entry for the 19th of August in 1641,
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,
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.
A delicate item of clothing, especially underwear or lingerie.
(obsolete) A choice dainty; a delicacy.
(obsolete) A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.
(textiles) Very thin or transparent.
* '>citation
(obsolete) Pure; unmixed.
* Shakespeare
* Shakespeare
Being only what it seems to be; mere.
* 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited,
Very steep; almost vertical or perpendicular.
Used to emphasize the amount or degree of something.
*
, title=The Mirror and the Lamp
, chapter=2 * 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/nyregion/new-jersey-continues-to-cope-with-hurricane-sandy.html?hp]," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):
(nautical) The curve of the main deck or gunwale from bow to stern.
(nautical) An abrupt swerve from the course of a ship.
(chiefly, nautical) To swerve from a course.
* 1899 ,
(obsolete) To shear.
Delicate is a related term of sheer.
As adjectives the difference between delicate and sheer
is that delicate is while sheer is (textiles) very thin or transparent.As an adverb sheer is
(archaic) clean; quite; at once.As a noun sheer is
(nautical) the curve of the main deck or gunwale from bow to stern.As a verb sheer is
(chiefly|nautical) to swerve from a course.delicate
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- Those clothes are made from delicate lace.
- The negotiations were very delicate .
- There are some things too delicate and too sacred to be handled rudely without injury to truth.
citation, page= , passage=The final vote between Hollande and Sarkozy now depends on a delicate balance of how France's total of rightwing and leftwing voters line up.}}
- Her face was delicate .
- The spider wove a delicate web.
- There was a delicate pattern of frost on the window.
- Set the washing machine to the delicate cycle.
- delicate''' behaviour; '''delicate''' attentions; '''delicate thoughtfulness
- a delicate''' child; '''delicate health
- a delicate and tender prince
- Please don't speak so loudly: I'm feeling a bit delicate this morning.
passus IX, line 285:
- Þenk þat diues for hus delicat lyf to þe deuel wente.
page 29:
- Haerlem is a very delicate town and hath one of the fairest churches of the Gothic design I had ever seen.
- a delicate''' dish; '''delicate flavour
scene iii, lines 18 and 20–21:
- : She’s a most exquisite lady.…Indeed, she’s a most fresh and delicate creature.
- a delicate shade of blue
- a delicate''' taste; a '''delicate ear for music
- a delicate thermometer
Synonyms
* (easily damaged) fragileNoun
(en noun)- Don't put that in with your jeans: it's a delicate !
- With abstinence all delicates he sees. — Dryden.
- All the vessels, then, which our delicates have, — those I mean that would seem to be more fine in their houses than their neighbours, — are only of the Corinth metal. — Holland.
External links
* * ----sheer
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) .Adjective
(en-adj)- sheer ale
- Thou sheer , immaculate, and silver fountain.
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.
citation, passage=That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired. And if the arts of humbleness failed him, he overcame you by sheer impudence.}}
- 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.
Synonyms
* (very thin or transparent) diaphanous, see-through, thin * downright, mere, pure, undiluted, unmitigated * (straight up and down) perpendicular, steep, verticalEtymology 2
; see also (m).Noun
(en noun)Verb
(en verb)- A horse sheers at a bicycle.
- I sheered her well inshore—the water being deepest near the bank, as the sounding–pole informed me.
- (Dryden)