What's the difference between delicate and fine?

Delicate


Definition:

  • (a.) Addicted to pleasure; luxurious; voluptuous; alluring.
  • (a.) Pleasing to the senses; refinedly agreeable; hence, adapted to please a nice or cultivated taste; nice; fine; elegant; as, a delicate dish; delicate flavor.
  • (a.) Slight and shapely; lovely; graceful; as, "a delicate creature."
  • (a.) Fine or slender; minute; not coarse; -- said of a thread, or the like; as, delicate cotton.
  • (a.) Slight or smooth; light and yielding; -- said of texture; as, delicate lace or silk.
  • (a.) Soft and fair; -- said of the skin or a surface; as, a delicate cheek; a delicate complexion.
  • (a.) Light, or softly tinted; -- said of a color; as, a delicate blue.
  • (a.) Refined; gentle; scrupulous not to trespass or offend; considerate; -- said of manners, conduct, or feelings; as, delicate behavior; delicate attentions; delicate thoughtfulness.
  • (a.) Tender; not able to endure hardship; feeble; frail; effeminate; -- said of constitution, health, etc.; as, a delicate child; delicate health.
  • (a.) Requiring careful handling; not to be rudely or hastily dealt with; nice; critical; as, a delicate subject or question.
  • (a.) Of exacting tastes and habits; dainty; fastidious.
  • (a.) Nicely discriminating or perceptive; refinedly critical; sensitive; exquisite; as, a delicate taste; a delicate ear for music.
  • (a.) Affected by slight causes; showing slight changes; as, a delicate thermometer.
  • (n.) A choice dainty; a delicacy.
  • (n.) A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Even if it does not always provide the solution to a particularly delicate problem, which is often of vital importance, it provides data which, modifiable and better used, should provide an adequate notion of the anatomical and physiopathological state in aortic stenosis.
  • (2) A layer of thick and dense delicate filament-like substance was attached to the surface of the cell body of Cp in the ultrathin sections with ruthenium red staining, in the case of Cj only a little of such a substance could be noted.
  • (3) For a while North Korea refused to play, but after delicate negotiations the players were persuaded back on to the pitch and the correct flag was displayed alongside the team photos.
  • (4) As one example, certain aspects of Gawain's situation seem oddly redolent of a more contemporary predicament, namely our complex and delicate relationship with the natural world.
  • (5) In sections of cells rich in cytoplasm, the basal bodies are particularly difficult to visualize due to their small size (25 to 45 mmicro) and the lack of properties that would enable one to distinguish them from the ribonucleoprotein structures; in addition, their boundary appears to be delicate.
  • (6) "These are delicate times and we take a positive role," Yi Gang, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, told the Guardian today.
  • (7) Even extraembryonic membranes can form strands of tissue that can entangle the delicate developing foot plate, and calcaneovalgus deformities could conceivably be established.
  • (8) Through this clear indication, it could be said, that pregnancies with delicate prognosis through tocolytic therapy are possibly unnecessarily lengthened and the final result is not better.
  • (9) Oil is coating birds and delicate wetlands along the Louisiana coast, and the political fallout from the spill has reached Washington, where the head of the federal agency that oversees offshore drilling resigned today.
  • (10) Filo pastry contains very little fat itself but relies on fat being added later in between incredibly fine sheets, allowing them to separate during cooking, and so shatter in the mouth into fine delicate shards.
  • (11) Ultrarapid freezing, followed by delicate freeze-substitution, immobilizes and retains much more ECM than chemical fixatives that include tannic acid (TA).
  • (12) Ultrastructural study confirmed the diagnosis by revealing tumour cells with delicate interdigitating cytoplasmic processes and basement membrane formation resembling pericytes.
  • (13) The cholera toxin subunit B-containing retinal efferents were effectively stained and yielded the presence of axons with delicate boutons on passage and nerve endings.
  • (14) Type I cases were technically more difficult and had a slightly higher surgical morbidity than Type II cases, especially if an oblique bone septum had asymmetrically divided the cord into one larger hemicord and one smaller, hence, very delicate, hemicord.
  • (15) One thing that isn't the same as in 2003: the delicately balanced relations among the many communities, ethnic and religious, in this most diverse region in Iraq have not been broken again.
  • (16) There are many differences between full dentures on Brånemark implants and fixed partial dentures built on the same type of implants: due to some more critical anatomical conditions, the choice of number, position and length of the implants is more delicate; the need of an harmonious crown-gingival tissue relationship; higher occlusal forces than in edentalous cases; difficulty in satisfying aesthetic requirements and ease of hygiene.
  • (17) Tissue characteristics of this laser energy should permit the vaporization of the stapes footplate or oval window soft tissue without thermal effect to the vestibule and without passing through the perilymph to damage the delicate structures of the inner ear.
  • (18) David Cameron suggests that the prospect of giving prisoners the vote makes him feel physically ill. For a man with such an apparently delicate constitution, it is surprising that wilfully ignoring a succession of court rulings appears to have so little effect on him."
  • (19) In their hands, the work of constitutional negotiations became a delicate art.
  • (20) The climate of xenophobia and police brutality in Egypt has raised questions for Italian prosecutors as to whether it was appropriate for Cambridge University to allow a young foreign student to go Cairo and undertake field research into such a delicate topic.

Fine


Definition:

  • (superl.) Finished; brought to perfection; refined; hence, free from impurity; excellent; superior; elegant; worthy of admiration; accomplished; beautiful.
  • (superl.) Aiming at show or effect; loaded with ornament; overdressed or overdecorated; showy.
  • (superl.) Nice; delicate; subtle; exquisite; artful; skillful; dexterous.
  • (superl.) Not coarse, gross, or heavy
  • (superl.) Not gross; subtile; thin; tenous.
  • (superl.) Not coarse; comminuted; in small particles; as, fine sand or flour.
  • (superl.) Not thick or heavy; slender; filmy; as, a fine thread.
  • (superl.) Thin; attenuate; keen; as, a fine edge.
  • (superl.) Made of fine materials; light; delicate; as, fine linen or silk.
  • (superl.) Having (such) a proportion of pure metal in its composition; as, coins nine tenths fine.
  • (superl.) (Used ironically.)
  • (a.) To make fine; to refine; to purify, to clarify; as, to fine gold.
  • (a.) To make finer, or less coarse, as in bulk, texture, etc.; as. to fine the soil.
  • (a.) To change by fine gradations; as (Naut.), to fine down a ship's lines, to diminish her lines gradually.
  • (n.) End; conclusion; termination; extinction.
  • (n.) A sum of money paid as the settlement of a claim, or by way of terminating a matter in dispute; especially, a payment of money imposed upon a party as a punishment for an offense; a mulct.
  • (n.) A final agreement concerning lands or rents between persons, as the lord and his vassal.
  • (n.) A sum of money or price paid for obtaining a benefit, favor, or privilege, as for admission to a copyhold, or for obtaining or renewing a lease.
  • (n.) To impose a pecuniary penalty upon for an offense or breach of law; to set a fine on by judgment of a court; to punish by fine; to mulct; as, the trespassers were fined ten dollars.
  • (v. i.) To pay a fine. See Fine, n., 3 (b).
  • (v. t.) To finish; to cease; or to cause to cease.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The fine structure of neurofibrillary tangles in the hippocampal gyrus, substantia nigra, pontine nuclei and locus coeruleus of the brain was postmortem studied in a case of progressive supranuclear palsy.
  • (2) As a group, the three mammalian proteins resemble bovine serum conglutinin and behave as lectins with rather broad sugar specificities directed at certain non-reducing terminal N-acetylglucosamine, mannose, glucose and fucose residues, but with subtle differences in fine specificities.
  • (3) On the way back to Pristina later, the lawyer told me everything was fine.
  • (4) The move would require some secondary legislation; higher fines for employers paying less than the minimum wage would require new primary legislation.
  • (5) The surface of all cells was covered by a fuzzy coat consisting of fine hairs or bristles.
  • (6) The fine needle aspiration cytology features of twelve peripherally located bronchioloalveolar cell carcinomas of the lung diagnosed by fine needle aspiration biopsy are described.
  • (7) Recognition of this deficiency in our knowledge spurred a belated explosion of research that began with an exploration of the fine structure of the mesothelium.
  • (8) There were pronounced differences from the fine structural aspects in late infantile cases.
  • (9) TCR beta chain gene expression of individual T cell clones that share the same MHC class II restriction and similar fine specificity for the encephalitogenic NH2 terminus of the autoantigen myelin basic protein (MBP) has been examined.
  • (10) The use of sigma 54 promoters, known to require cognate binding proteins, could allow the fine-tuning that provides the temporal ordering of flagellar gene transcription.
  • (11) While there has been almost no political reform during their terms of office, there have been several ambitious steps forward in terms of environmental policy: anti-desertification campaigns; tree planting; an environmental transparency law; adoption of carbon targets; eco-services compensation; eco accounting; caps on water; lower economic growth targets; the 12th Five-Year Plan; debate and increased monitoring of PM2.5 [fine particulate matter] and huge investments in eco-cities, "clean car" manufacturing, public transport, energy-saving devices and renewable technology.
  • (12) That, however, is reserved for the most serious cases and the indications are that a fine is the likely outcome.
  • (13) These findings in a patient with acute leukaemia are strongly suspicious of fungal infection, and percutaneous fine-needle aspiration under ultrasound or computed tomography-guidance is indicated.
  • (14) Any MP who claims this is not statutory regulation is a liar, and should be forced to retract and apologise, or face a million pound fine.
  • (15) There’s a fine line between pushing them to their limits and avoiding injury, and Alberto is a master at it.
  • (16) While circulating the quarries is illegal – you risk a fine of up to €60 – neither the IGC nor the police seem to mind the veteran cataphiles who possess a good knowledge of the underground space, and who respect their heritage.
  • (17) No differences in cell fine structure or in growth factor requirements for cell proliferation were noted between normal and CF cells.
  • (18) of complete tryptic digests of the IRBPs indicate that, although they have in common a similar preponderance of hydrophobic peptides, all three proteins differ extensively in their fine structure.
  • (19) Failure to meet these deadlines, and others listed in the judgement, face a daily fine of 150,000 reais.
  • (20) Nuclear DNA distribution in fine-needle specimens from 112 breast carcinomas and 45 prostatic tumours was studied.