tenderness
Americannoun
Explanation
Tenderness is a feeling of concern, gentle affection, or warmth. It's the quality of a person who cries when they see someone get hurt or who gently picks up a tiny kitten. Writing a heartfelt note to a sad friend is one way to show tenderness, and so is giving your brother a sincere hug on his birthday. Another definition of this adjective is "extreme sensitivity to pain." You might experience tenderness in your muscles the day after going on a long hike. This is actually the original meaning, from tender, "soft or easily injured," and a root meaning "stretched, thin, or weak."
Vocabulary lists containing tenderness
Novel Study: The Crucible, Acts 3–4
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Crenshaw
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The Suffix -ness, Part 1
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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.
While stereotypes focus on tragedy and horror, Rosales reorients our gaze, revealing moments of tenderness and boredom, rest and joy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Now, two years later, Harry Styles walks onto that same floor in pearls and a feather boa, singing about tenderness and change and wanting.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
I cackle at the distance between perfection and utter collapse, but I also feel a pang of tenderness: I am moved by their effort.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
“Underneath an artist’s preoccupations with sex, society, religion, etc.,” the narrator insists, “there is a soul tortured beyond endurance by the lack of tenderness in the world.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
With a tenderness that Briony remembered from years ago, waking in the night, Cecilia said, “Come back...Robbie, come back.”
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
