Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Extremely beautiful and delicate: Showing perfection, great beauty, or very fine craftsmanship.
   • Intensely felt: Extremely sharp or intense, often referring to a feeling, whether pleasant or painful.
   • Showing excellent judgment or perception: Characterized by refined taste or discernment.

Usage and Examples

• Describing beauty, delicacy, or craftsmanship:
  • The museum displayed an exquisite collection of Renaissance jewelry.
  • She wore an exquisite silk gown to the gala.
• Describing intense feelings or sensations:
  • He felt exquisite joy when he saw his newborn daughter.
  • The patient was in exquisite pain from the nerve damage.
• Describing refined taste or perception:
  • The chef has an exquisite palate for spices.

Advanced Usage and Nuances

• "Exquisite" often implies a rare, almost fragile beauty or perfection that inspires admiration.
• It can describe something so finely made or beautiful that it seems almost too perfect.
• When describing pain or pleasure, it emphasizes an almost overwhelming sharpness or purity of the sensation.

Variants and Related Words

• Exquisitely (adverb): In an exquisite manner.
  • The room was exquisitely decorated.
• Exquisiteness (noun): The quality of being exquisite.
  • The exquisiteness of the carving was breathtaking.

Synonyms

• Beautiful: Pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically.
• Delicate: Very fine in texture or structure; easily broken or damaged.
• Elegant: Pleasingly graceful and stylish in appearance or manner.
• Intense: Of extreme force, degree, or strength.
• Superb: Excellent; of the highest quality.

Antonyms

• Crude: Constructed in a rudimentary or makeshift way.
• Dull: Lacking interest or excitement; not sharp in sensation.
• Ordinary: With no special or distinctive features; normal.
• Ugly: Unpleasant or repulsive in appearance.

Idioms and Fixed Phrases

• Exquisite timing: Perfect or exceptionally good timing.
  • His joke, with its exquisite timing, made everyone laugh.
• Exquisite taste: Exceptionally good judgment in matters of aesthetics or style.
  • Her exquisite taste in art is well known in the community.

Adjective

1. of extreme beauty
   • her exquisite face
2. delicately beautiful
   • a dainty teacup
   • an exquisite cameo
3. lavishly elegant and refined
4. intense or sharp
   • suffered exquisite pain
   • felt exquisite pleasure