Indelicate

adj

adj ·4 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Improper or immodest.

    "As late as the 1950s and early 1960s, when "funk" and "funky" were used increasingly in the context of jazz music, the terms still were considered indelicate and inappropriate for use in polite company."

  2. 2
    Coarse or tasteless.
  3. 3
    Tactless or undiplomatic.

    "Schuetz acknowledges that he knew about the Dale Barbre murder investigation as it was reported in GCN. Yet the Barbre murder saga provided only the skeleton — if I may be forgiven the indelicate word choice — for the story they concoct."

Adjective
  1. 1
    verging on the indecent wordnet
  2. 2
    lacking propriety and good taste in manners and conduct wordnet
  3. 3
    in violation of good taste even verging on the indecent wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
indecentindecorousbawdybluebluntbroad

Example

More examples

"I'd like to offer my apologies for being so indelicate."

Etymology

From in- + delicate.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.