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Synonyms

tender loving care

Idioms  

  1. Also, TLC. Solicitous and compassionate care, as in These houseplants sure have had tender loving care, or Older house for sale, needs some renovation and TLC. Originally used to describe the work of care-givers such as nurses, this term today is often used ironically or euphemistically. [Second half of 1900s]

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.

With the housing market hot, older homes that need a little tender loving care have become in demand.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 7, 2023

The forest biotechnology expert knew that trees are difficult to genetically alter — and that the "tender loving care" of a laboratory is no substitute for the outside world.

From Scientific American • Feb. 9, 2023

They were a little dilapidated, and in need of some tender loving care.

From BBC • Jul. 8, 2022

The tender loving care that has gone into the production in the Terrace Theater is all well and good, but as a one-off enterprise at the arts center it comes across as an oddity.

From Washington Post • Jun. 13, 2019

After all these centuries of tender loving care from millions of Tang families, the Stove King had gotten quite pudgy.

From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep

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.