caressing
Americanadjective
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gently touching, patting, or stroking a person or thing to show affection.
She stroked my face—temple, cheek, chin, and then up the other side in a caressing, sweeping gesture.
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touching or seeming to touch a person or thing lightly and in a way that calms or soothes.
Over and over again, I repeated the figures until they became a caressing swash of sound inside my head and hummed me finally to sleep.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of caressing
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.
Caressing his consonants and trumpeting his vowels, he handled the witty dialogue with astonishing aplomb.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 15, 2016
Caressing the river’s surface with a kayak paddle, he looked as if the top of his head might just clear the bridge.
From New York Times • Sep. 13, 2012
Later, there was the equally astonishing case of Pompeo Batoni’s “Venus Caressing Cupid” selling for $1.76 million.
From New York Times • Jan. 27, 2011
Caressing from day to day phantasms which had no existence, it was in them that he chiefly existed.
From Gargoyles by Hecht, Ben
Caressing her fair head, and mingling his large fingers in her beautiful and dishevelled locks, he raised and tenderly kissed the cherub countenance which seemed desirous to hide itself in his hand.
From The Talisman by Scott, Walter, Sir
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.
