Synonyms

caressing

American

[kuh-res-ing] / kəˈrɛs ɪŋ /

adjective

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.
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

caressingly adverb
uncaressing adjective
uncaressingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of caressing

caress ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. )

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 even ponied up for a pay-per-view a few years back to see Mayweather spend eight rounds gently caressing Jake’s overmatched older brother, Logan.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 26, 2026

Jareth is an illusionist as beguiling and seductive as he is sinister, caressing bubbles and gravity-defiant glass spheres with liquid grace.

From Salon • Jan. 24, 2026

With the cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, he shows them off beautifully, caressing them in light so that they look lit from within.

From New York Times • Apr. 25, 2024

The ball banked high off the backboard, caressing the front of the rim before falling through the net as the buzzer sounded.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 14, 2023

She pictured Grandfather, the blue-veined hands caressing the leather bindings, and she knew that he had not cherished his books with any thought of improving his sinful nature.

From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023