Entry Word: tender

Function: adjective

Meaning: 1 easily injured without careful handling <a tender wound> <tender plants that cannot take the cold> <tender pride that got bruised when his girlfriend dumped him>

Synonyms delicate, fragile, frail, sensitive

Related Words breakable, brittle; flimsy, puny, soft, weak; nonhardy, perishable, resistless, susceptible, unresistant, vulnerable, yielding

Near Antonyms durable, firm, flinty, hard, hardy, resistant, robust, rugged, solid, sound, stiff, stout, strong, sturdy, substantial; nonbreakable, unbreakable; hardened, inured, strengthened, tempered, toughened

Antonyms tough

2 feeling or showing love <a tender embrace between father and daughter> — see loving
3 having or marked by sympathy and consideration for others <a tender teacher who loves having kids with special educational needs in her class> — see humane 1
4 lacking bodily strength <a very tender child who always seems to be sick> — see weak 1
5 not harsh or stern especially in manner, nature, or effect <his tender comments on how to improve her writing were gratefully received> — see gentle 1