tender

tender

adjective

Definition of TENDER

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, crushable, eggshell, frangible, friable; feeble, flimsy, puny, slight, soft, tenuous, 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; infrangible, nonbreakable, unbreakable; hardened, inured, strengthened, tempered, toughened

Antonyms tough

2

feeling or showing love <a tender embrace between father and daughter>

Synonyms adoring, affectionate, devoted, fond, tender, tenderhearted

Related Words caring, compassionate, considerate, cordial, doting, forgiving, friendly, humane, kind, understanding, warmhearted; ardent, fervent, impassioned, passionate, warm; amatory, amorous, erotic (also erotical); enamored, infatuated, lovesick; lovey-dovey, mushy, romantic, sappy, sentimental; brotherly, fatherly, motherly, sisterly

Near Antonyms aloof, antisocial, cold-eyed, cool, detached, distant, dry, frosty, hard-hearted, indifferent, offish, pitiless, remote, reserved, standoffish, unbending, uncaring, unfeeling; disaffected, unconcerned, uninvolved; cold, frigid, unfriendly; callous, cold-blooded, hard-boiled, heartless, pitiless, ruthless, soulless, unromantic, unsentimental

Antonyms unloving

3

having or marked by sympathy and consideration for others <an especially tender teacher who loves having kids with special educational needs in her class>

Synonyms beneficent, benevolent, benignant, compassionate, good-hearted, kind, kindhearted, kindly, softhearted, sympathetic, tender, tenderhearted, warmhearted

Related Words attentive, considerate, solicitous, thoughtful; affable, amicable, benign, companionable, comradely, cordial, friendly, genial, gentle, good, good-natured, good-tempered, gracious, mild, neighborly, nice, pleasant, sweet, warm; clement, forbearing, forgiving, lenient, merciful, soft; patient, pitying, tolerant, understanding; altruistic, brotherly, charitable, freehanded, generous, greathearted, humanitarian, liberal, magnanimous, munificent, noble, openhearted, philanthropic (also philanthropical), selfless, unselfish, unsparing; anticruelty, cruelty-free

Near Antonyms ironhearted, merciless, pitiless, ruthless, stonyhearted; inconsiderate, insensitive, thoughtless, uncaring, unthinking; grim, hard-boiled, harsh, heavy-handed, severe, stern, tough, unsentimental; hateful, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, mean, nasty, spiteful, virulent; antihumanitarian, uncharitable

Antonyms atrocious, barbaric, barbarous, bestial, brutal, brute, brutish, callous, cold-blooded, cruel, fiendish, hard-hearted, heartless, inhuman, inhumane, insensate, sadistic, savage, truculent, uncompassionate, unfeeling, unkind, unkindly, unsympathetic, vicious, wanton

4

lacking bodily strength <a very tender child who always seems to be sick>

Synonyms asthenic, debilitated, delicate, down-and-out, effete, enervated, enfeebled, faint, feeble, frail, infirm, languid, low, prostrate, prostrated, sapped, slight, soft, softened, tender, unsubstantial, wasted, weakened, wimpish, wimpy

Related Words challenged, disabled, incapacitated, invalid; paralyzed; broken-down, decrepit; impotent, powerless; breakable, flimsy, fragile; dizzy, groggy, rocky, unsteady, woozy; drained, exhausted, flagging, tired, weary, worn-out; damaged, harmed, hurt, impaired, injured, lame, unsound; resistless, susceptible, unresistant, vulnerable, yielding

Near Antonyms able-bodied, athletic, beefy, brawny, fit, husky, muscular, sinewy, strapping, virile; hard, hardy, lusty, red-blooded, robust, sturdy, tough; fortified, hardened, inured, strengthened, toughened; energetic, energized, invigorated, vigorous, vitalized; hale, healthy, sound; capable, competent; convalescing, recovering, recuperating

Antonyms mighty, powerful, rugged, stalwart, stout, strong

5

not harsh or stern especially in nature or effect <his tender comments on how to improve her writing style were gratefully received>

Synonyms balmy, benign, bland, delicate, light, mellow, mild, nonabrasive, soft, soothing, tender

Related Words calm, pacific, peaceful, placid, quiet, serene, tranquil; clement, compassionate, easy, lenient, merciful; buffering, cushioning, emollient, softening; sleek, slick, smooth

Near Antonyms exquisite, fierce, intense, powerful, severe; forceful, forcible, savage, violent; roughened, rugged, strong; abrading, irritating, roughening; grim, gruff, rude, stiff; heavy-handed, oppressive, pitiless, tyrannical (also tyrannic)

Antonyms abrasive, caustic, coarse, hard, harsh, rough, scathing, stern, ungentle