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.
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.
Two girls, their faces streaked with tears, gently caressed the face of a dead man, wrapped in a sheet with a floral motif, and then hugged each other tightly.
From Barron's
One woman paused before the display and raised her hand to caress an image.
From BBC
D’Angelo asks that question — worries it, caresses it, plumbs its unseen depths — no fewer than two dozen times in what might have been his signature hit.
From Los Angeles Times
He grew up playing street football in the suburbs of Stockholm and there is still an element of that to his playing style now, with the way he caresses the ball and his dribbling ability.
From BBC
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.
