tenderfoot

American  

[ten-der-foot] / ˈtɛn dərˌfʊt /

noun

• tenderfoots,
  plural
• tenderfeet
  plural

1. a raw, inexperienced person; novice.

2. a newcomer to the ranching and mining regions of the western U.S., unused to hardships.

3. one in the lowest rank of the Boy Scouts of America or Girl Scouts of America.

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tenderfoot British  

/ ˈtɛndəˌfʊt /

noun

1. a newcomer, esp to the mines or ranches of the southwestern US

2. (formerly) a beginner in the Scouts or Guides

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• tenderfeet
  plural
• tenderfoots
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of tenderfoot

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50; tender ¹ + foot

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Explanation

A tenderfoot is someone inexperienced. Usually, a tenderfoot is someone unaccustomed to outdoor living. Originally, a tenderfoot was an immigrant to the United States who wasn't used to the rough pioneer life, especially the hardships of ranching and mining. From there, this word came to mean any inexperienced person. A rookie on a football team is a tenderfoot. Someone new at a job could is a tenderfoot. This word best applies to people who aren't used to roughing it outdoors. A summer camp counselor who isn’t used to sleeping outside is definitely a tenderfoot.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tenderfoot tenderfeet tenderfoots

But one month later the Times accused “all Northern California” of conspiring against “Southland,” sending agents to “spy out the land and send the tenderfoot northward.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2025

Aiden McCleskey, a tenderfoot Scout from Boy Scout Troop 61 in Northwest Washington, wanted to “gather resources” for Ukrainian civilians who get caught in the line of fire.

From Washington Times ● Mar. 21, 2022

He joins a long and eclectic tradition of tenderfoot film-makers making good on their cinematic dreams – some of whom started even younger.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 13, 2019

In 1883, 25-year-old Theodore Roosevelt, a New York City tenderfoot wearing a Brooks Brothers suit, came to what was then Dakota Territory to hunt bison.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 1, 2015

“Black” Burton, a man evil-tempered and malicious, had been picking a quarrel with a tenderfoot at the bar, when Thornton stepped good-naturedly between.

From "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London

Once in the woods, teachers fell back, leaving tenderfeet to find their way together.

From New York Times ● Jun. 25, 2021

But there’s an advantage to being a freshman in a big class like this one — as tenderfeet, they’re not bound by deals and pacts made in previous sessions.

From New York Times ● Jan. 7, 2011

James Antrim, of the King's African Rifles, splendid fellow that he is, cannot bear to see such ill-mated tenderfeet wandering loose among the lions, thirst and loneliness.

From Time Magazine Archive

In it, Stallone stands off not only the sheriffs blundering posse but, eventually, hundreds of tangle-footed tenderfeet from the National Guard, in the process giving an artful demonstration of guerrilla warfare.

From Time Magazine Archive

You may have had good reasons for regarding tenderfeet with contempt, but now you will know all tenderfeet are not alike.

From Frank Merriwell's New Comedian The Rise of a Star by Burt L. Standish

It could betray to our peers the awful truth that we are still greenhorns, tenderfoots, newbies.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

I reckollect that they allowed we'd made a big mistake,— They otter knowed us tenderfoots wuz sure to make a break!

From Second Book of Verse by Eugene Field

An' he p'ints where them four tenderfoots is mixed up together in the back of the stage.

From Wolfville by Alfred Henry Lewis

In Tent Avenue the news of his passing got about and presently a menagerie of tenderfoots were dogging his heels.

From Tom Slade's Double Dare by R. Emmett (Robert Emmett) Owen

Bear shootin’ attracts tenderfoots; and tenderfoots have money to spend.

From Ruth Fielding In the Saddle College Girls in the Land of Gold by Alice B. Emerson

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