delectable means highly pleasing; delightful, especially to any of the senses; delicious. It carries an Arena rating of 1572, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, delectable ranks #1,370 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,667 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #4,575 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #4,624 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words.
delectable is pronounced /dɪˈlɛktəbəl/.
Why “delectable” is a great word
Supremely pleasant, especially to the senses of taste or smell, with an air of refined delight. From Middle English, from Middle French délectable, from Old French, from Medieval Latin *delectare* ("to delight"), ultimately from Latin *dēlectābilis* ("delightful"), first attested in English c. 1400. Unlike "delicious," which speaks plainly to the tongue, or "scrumptious," which suggests a hearty, childlike glee, delectable implies a connoisseur’s measured and elegant appreciation. It is the glazed sheen on a perfect tart, the fragrant steam rising from a saffron-infused broth, or the cool, yielding flesh of a sun-warmed peach—a quiet, aesthetic celebration of the ephemeral joy found in the very act of noticing.
Etymology
From Middle English delectable, from Middle French délectable, from Old French delectable, from Medieval Latin delectare (“to delight”). By surface analysis, delect + -able. Piecewise doublet of delightable.
adj
- Highly pleasing; delightful, especially to any of the senses; delicious.e.g.“For quotations using this term, see Citations:delectable.”
noun
- Something that is delectable.e.g.“These include such delectables as cars and drivers, country club memberships and personal use of corporate aircraft.” — 2009 February 8, Gretchen Morgenson, “Bailout Needs Some Strings Attached to Limit Pay”, in New York Times:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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