dainty

dain·ty

(dān′tē)

adj. dain·ti·er, dain·ti·est

1. Delicately beautiful or charming and usually small: dainty slippers.

2. Delicious; tasty: a dainty dish.

3. Fastidious or finicky: "They chided [them] for being too dainty to eat army rations" (Stephen Berry).

4. Frail in constitution or health: "Such heroines have [been]replaced by the dainty young thing who faints away at the sight of a six-shooter" (Molly Gloss).

n. pl. dain·ties

Something delicious; a delicacy.

[Middle English deinte, excellent, excellence, from Old French deintie, from Latin dignitās, from dignus, worthy; see dek- in Indo-European roots.]

dain′ti·ly adv.

dain′ti·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

dainty

(ˈdeɪntɪ)

adj, -tier or -tiest

1. delicate or elegant: a dainty teacup.

2. pleasing to the taste; choice; delicious: a dainty morsel.

3. refined, esp excessively genteel; fastidious

n, pl -ties

(Cookery) a choice piece of food, esp a small cake or sweet; delicacy

[C13: from Old French deintié, from Latin dignitās dignity]

ˈdaintily adv

ˈdaintiness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

dain•ty

(ˈdeɪn ti)

adj. -ti•er, -ti•est, adj.

1. of delicate beauty or form.

2. pleasing to the taste dainty pastries.

3. particular; fastidious: a dainty eater.

4. overly particular; finicky.

5. something delicious to the taste; delicacy.

[1175–1225; Middle English deinte worthiness, happiness, delicacy < Anglo-French (Old French deint(i)e) < Latin dignitātem, acc. of dignitās]

dain′ti•ly, adv.

dain′ti•ness, n.

syn: See delicate.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	dainty - something considered choice to eat goody, kickshaw, treat, delicacy aliment, alimentation, nourishment, nutriment, sustenance, victuals, nutrition - a source of materials to nourish the body choice morsel, tidbit, titbit - a small tasty bit of food savoury, savory - an aromatic or spicy dish served at the end of dinner or as an hors d'oeuvre confection, sweet - a food rich in sugar nectar, ambrosia - (classical mythology) the food and drink of the gods; mortals who ate it became immortal jelly, gelatin - an edible jelly (sweet or pungent) made with gelatin and used as a dessert or salad base or a coating for foods bone marrow, marrow - very tender and very nutritious tissue from marrowbones
Adj.	1.	dainty - affectedly dainty or refined mincing, niminy-piminy, prim, twee refined - (used of persons and their behavior) cultivated and genteel; "she was delicate and refined and unused to hardship"; "refined people with refined taste"
	2.	dainty - delicately beautiful; "a dainty teacup"; "an exquisite cameo" exquisite 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"
	3.	dainty - especially pleasing to the taste; "a dainty dish to set before a kind"; tasty - pleasing to the sense of taste; "a tasty morsel"
	4.	dainty - excessively fastidious and easily disgusted; "too nice about his food to take to camp cooking"; "so squeamish he would only touch the toilet handle with his elbow" overnice, squeamish, prissy, nice fastidious - giving careful attention to detail; hard to please; excessively concerned with cleanliness; "a fastidious and incisive intellect"; "fastidious about personal cleanliness"

dainty

adjective

1. delicate, pretty, charming, fine, slight, slim, elegant, trim, neat, refined, exquisite, graceful, petite, dinky (Brit. informal) The girls were dainty and feminine.
delicate awkward, coarse, clumsy, ungainly, gauche, uncouth, inelegant, maladroit

2. delectable, choice, delicious, tender, tasty, savoury, palatable, toothsome a dainty morsel

3. particular, nice, refined, fussy, scrupulous, fastidious, choosy, picky (informal), finicky, anal retentive, finical They cater for a range of tastes, from the dainty to the extravagant.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

dainty

adjective

1. Appealing to refined taste:

choice, delicate, elegant, exquisite, fine.

2. Very difficult to please:

choosy, exacting, fastidious, finical, finicky, fussy, meticulous, nice, particular, persnickety, squeamish.

Informal: picky.

noun

Something fine and delicious, especially a food:

delicacy, morsel, tidbit, treat.

Informal: goody.

Translations

سَهْل الكَسْر، وَسيم، أنيق

líbeznýněžný

lækkeryndig

zierlich

aimable délicat friandise mignon

fallega fíngerîur

delicatamente delicato

dailiai

gleznsizsmalcinātstrausls

liten og søt tander

ljubek

narin zarif

优雅的娇俏的

dainty

[ˈdeɪntɪ]

A. ADJ (daintier (compar) (daintiest (superl)))

1. (= delicate) [person, hands, vase] → fino, delicado; [steps] → elegante, delicado; [figure] → delicado; [food, clothes] → exquisito, refinado
a dainty morsel → un bocado exquisito

2. (= fastidious) → delicado, melindroso

B. N → bocado m exquisito
dainties → exquisiteces fpl

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

dainty

[ˈdeɪnti] adj [hand, foot, face] → délicat(e), mignon(ne); [flower] → délicat(e), joli(e); [handkerchief, socks, apron] → adorable

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

dainty

adj (+er)

→ zierlich; lace, handkerchief → fein; movement, music → anmutig; she has dainty little ways → bei or an ihr ist alles fein und zierlich

food → appetitlich; dainty morsel → Appetithappen m

(= refined) → geziert, etepetete (inf)

n → Leckerei f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

dainty

[ˈdeɪntɪ] adj (-ier (comp) (-iest (superl))) (person, figure) → minuto/a; (child, manners) → aggraziato/a; (flowers, gesture) → delicato/a, grazioso/a; (dishes, food) → delicato/a; (dress, shoes) → grazioso/a

dainty

(ˈdeinti) adjective

small or fragile and attractive. a dainty little girl.

ˈdaintily adverb

ˈdaintiness noun

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

Dainty foot and gentle breast-- Here, across, be glad and rest.

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A little girl, radiant and beautiful, shapely as a fairy and exquisitely dressed, was dancing gracefully in the middle of the lonely road, whirling slowly this way and that, her dainty feet twinkling in sprightly fashion.

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Dainty sandals encased her feet, while a wimple of violet silk bordered in gold fringe, lay becomingly over her head and shoulders.

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"I should never have thought, dear boy of mine, that you were so dainty and fussy about your food.

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Indeed, this mental repast is a dainty, of which those who are excluded from polite assemblies must be contented to remain as ignorant as they must of the several dainties of French cookery, which are served only at the tables of the great.

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The Farmer felt in his pocket, gave the Lapdog some dainty food, and sat down while he gave his orders to his servants.

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Everything about this dainty chevalier bespoke the "ladies' man." He was so minute in his ablutions that his cheeks were a pleasure to look upon; they seemed to have been laved in some miraculous water.

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Then they tore of her dainty clothing, laid her on a table, and cut her beautiful body into pieces, and sprinkled salt upon it.

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It was, we said, a good world, and I, simpleton,--pretty and dainty as Margaret was,--deemed it would go on forever.

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Acting in song, especially in dialogues, hath an extreme good grace; I say acting, not dancing (for that is a mean and vulgar thing); and the voices of the dialogue would be strong and manly (a base and a tenor; no treble); and the ditty high and tragical; not nice or dainty. Several quires, placed one over against another, and taking the voice by catches, anthem-wise, give great pleasure.

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Changes had crept in, Marilla conniving at them resignedly, until it was as sweet and dainty a nest as a young girl could desire.

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And there is also no lack of roots and fruits, good enough even for the fastidious and dainty,--nor of nuts and other riddles for cracking.

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