Synonyms of kindly

kindly 1 of 2

adjective

ˈkīn(d)-lē 

1

as in kind

having or marked by sympathy and consideration for others

brought homemade chicken soup out of kindly concern for my health

Synonyms & Similar Words

• kind
• compassionate
• benevolent
• sympathetic
• thoughtful
• gracious
• gentle
• nice
• humane
• friendly
• generous
• kindhearted
• benignant
• merciful
• sweet
• beneficent
• good
• pleasant
• tender
• warmhearted
• good-hearted
• attentive
• considerate
• patient
• softhearted
• solicitous
• tenderhearted
• warm
• humanitarian
• cordial
• good-natured
• benign
• mild
• pitying
• affable
• genial
• forbearing
• soft
• lenient
• neighborly
• charitable
• magnanimous
• companionable
• amicable
• noble
• forgiving
• comradely
• tolerant
• good-tempered
• munificent
• liberal
• understanding
• unselfish
• altruistic
• selfless
• philanthropic
• brotherly
• unsparing
• clement
• openhearted
• greathearted
• freehanded
• anticruelty
• cruelty-free

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• cruel
• unkind
• callous
• savage
• brutal
• vicious
• unsympathetic
• brute
• heartless
• inhuman
• sadistic
• barbarous
• atrocious
• truculent
• unfeeling
• barbaric
• ruthless
• brutish
• inhumane
• bestial
• unkindly
• fiendish
• merciless
• pitiless
• insensate
• insensitive
• thoughtless
• severe
• stern
• inconsiderate
• harsh
• tough
• uncaring
• unthinking
• hard-hearted
• wanton
• grim
• uncompassionate
• cold-blooded
• mean
• malignant
• malicious
• unsentimental
• hateful
• malevolent
• spiteful
• ironhearted
• virulent
• malign
• nasty
• stonyhearted
• uncharitable
• heavy-handed
• hard-boiled
• antihumanitarian

2

as in helpful

promoting or contributing to personal or social well-being

a vegetarian diet can be very kindly to a person hoping to lose a few pounds

Synonyms & Similar Words

• helpful
• beneficial
• favorable
• good
• friendly
• satisfying
• profitable
• advantageous
• beneficent
• salutary
• benignant
• desirable
• promising
• gratifying
• benefic
• rewarding
• lucrative
• advisable
• supportive
• propitious
• healthy
• auspicious
• wholesome
• constructive
• healthful
• gainful
• salubrious
• remunerative
• salutiferous
• ameliorative
• amelioratory
• bettering

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• bad
• unfriendly
• unfavorable
• unhelpful
• disadvantageous
• unprofitable
• harmful
• injurious
• damaging
• deleterious
• insalubrious

kindly

2 of 2

adverb

1

as in nicely

with good reason or courtesy

would you kindly hand me the scissors?

Synonyms & Similar Words

• nicely
• thoughtfully
• reasonably
• graciously
• politely
• courteously
• considerately
• well
• fairly
• pleasantly
• respectfully
• justifiably
• wisely
• sensibly
• discreetly
• validly
• prudently
• solicitously
• deferentially
• sweetly
• judiciously
• chivalrously
• sympathetically
• gallantly
• compassionately
• excusably
• decorously
• humanely
• kindheartedly

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• rudely
• thoughtlessly
• contemptuously
• scornfully
• disdainfully
• cruelly
• inconsiderately
• disrespectfully
• viciously
• discourteously
• unfairly
• heartlessly
• nastily
• impolitely
• snootily
• shabbily

2

as in pretty

chiefly Southern to some degree or extent

their visit was kindly a surprise

Synonyms & Similar Words

• pretty
• quite
• rather
• enough
• relatively
• fairly
• something
• somewhat
• moderately
• a little
• a mite
• to a degree
• a bit
• sort of
• kind of
• of sorts
• like
• slightly
• after a sort
• a tad
• a touch
• more or less
• decently
• vaguely
• acceptably
• tolerably
• partially
• passably
• partly
• nominally
• little
• negligibly
• incompletely
• halfway
• partway
• part
• half

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• very
• highly
• extremely
• greatly
• heavily
• particularly
• especially
• exceedingly
• exceptionally
• terribly
• awfully
• deadly
• significantly
• substantially
• considerably
• frightfully
• hugely
• extensively
• mortally
• mightily
• surpassingly
• beastly

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of kindly

Adjective

Joe Negri, a jazz guitarist best known to generations of children and their parents as the kindly, music-loving handyman of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, died Saturday, May 30, at a senior living facility outside Pittsburgh. — Greg Evans, Deadline, 12 June 2026

Other kindly ushers, who had directed people to an adjacent section after Section 535 filled up, politely asked everyone to please put their shirts back on before returning to the general stadium population. — Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 4 June 2026

Adverb

Before she became known as kindly schoolteacher Eva Beadle-Simms on Little House on the Prairie, Charlotte Stewart was a flower child with a seriously iconic drinking buddy. — Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 13 Aug. 2026

Flood kindly took on all the engineering duties, which freed me up to be in the band room with Eno. — Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 2 Aug. 2026

Phrases Containing kindly

• take kindly to