| 释义 |
indelicate, a.|ɪnˈdɛlɪkət|
[in-3. Cf. F. indélicat (1812 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
1. Wanting in, or offensive to, a sense of delicacy or propriety; coarse, unrefined; bordering upon what is immodest or indecent.
1742Richardson Pamela IV. 42 Don't think to let me lose my beloved Wife and have an indelicate Nurse put upon me instead of her. 1774Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry xxx. (1840) II. 447 Their manners were too indelicate to be shocked at any indecency. 1804W. Tennant Ind. Recreat. (ed. 2) I. 274 Who bandied about amongst each other the coarsest ribbaldry, and most indelicate sarcasms. 1846Grote Greece i. i. I. 15 A cast of fancy more coarse and indelicate than the Homeric.
†b. Used as n. Obs.
1742Richardson Pamela xxxv. III. 342 These Gentlemen, the very best of them, are such Indelicates! Ibid. IV. Let. xiv. 82 What strange indelicates do these writers of tragedy often make of our sex!
2. Wanting in fine tact or nice regard to the feelings and tastes of others.
1800E. Hervey Mourtray Fam. IV. 102 She felt that, under the present circumstances, it would be indelicate to attempt more. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 462 It was apprehended that such indelicate greediness might disgust the benefactor.
3. Of food: Coarse. Obs.
1750Coventry Pompey Litt. (1752) 101 The coarse fare he met with..were but indelicate morsels to one who had formerly lived on ragouts and fricassees. 1777G. Forster Voy. round World II. 224 Time makes these indelicate viands acceptable and delicious to their taste.
Hence inˈdelicately adv., without delicacy.
1800E. Hervey Mourtray Fam. III. 71 To throw herself, most indelicately, into the arms of a gamester, a profligate, a man of no birth. 1816Scott Let. to Byron 5 Jan., The indiscreet zeal of the friend, who..has injudiciously and, as she thinks, indelicately brought into view circumstances of private attention. |