caress
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
-
to touch, pat, or stroke gently to show affection.
-
to touch or seem to touch lightly.
The breeze caressed the trees.
-
to treat with favor, kindness, etc.
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
- caressable adjective
- caresser noun
- caressingly adverb
- uncaressed adjective
Etymology
Origin of caress
First recorded in 1605–15; from French caresse, from Italian carezza, from unattested Vulgar Latin caritia, equivalent to Latin cār(us) “dear” + -itia suffix of abstract nouns; charity
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I caress the smooth wood and wait for something to happen.
From Literature
I’m lying on a heated massage bed, cocooned in a soft, weighted blanket, as Kayla Faraji caresses my cheeks with billowy, pink goose feathers.
From Los Angeles Times
In the video, a gray pit bull named Valerio stood on a woman’s lap, furiously wagging his tail as he accepted her caresses.
From Los Angeles Times
A cool gust of air swept through her thin nightdress and caressed her face, an exquisite relief from the stale and heavy air of the house.
From Literature
We see Ella Fitzgerald at New York’s Basin Street East in the mid-1950s; her eyes closed, she gently leans into a microphone that she caresses with both hands.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
