tend 1 of 2

verb (1)

ˈtend How to pronounce tend (audio)
Definition of tendnext
as in to lean
to show a liking or proneness (for something) her wardrobe tends toward dark colors and heavy fabrics

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

tend

2 of 2

verb (2)

1
as in to watch
to take charge of especially on behalf of another tend the store while I run an errand

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to grow
to look after or assist the growth of by labor and care lately I haven't been doing a good job of tending my garden

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in to cultivate
to work by plowing, sowing, and raising crops on plots that during the war were tended by city dwellers as vegetable gardens

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4
as in to manage
to look after and make decisions about the dying patriarch wondered who would tend the family business after he was gone

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of tend
Verb
Michael McDonald has been reunited with his secret son 58 years after putting him up for adoption, a milestone that tends to happen to rock stars every so often. — Devon Ivie, Vulture, 1 Oct. 2026 His writing tends toward the picaresque, his characters moving through series of strange encounters that accrue meaning through juxtaposition. — Literary Hub, 1 Oct. 2026 For generations, her family has been tending to the land and their community. — The Sacramento Bee Staff, Sacbee.com, 1 Oct. 2026 Once one magnetic accessory goes up, the rest tend to follow. — Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Kansas City Star, 1 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for tend
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tend
  1. lean
  2. watch
  3. grow
  4. cultivate
  5. manage
  6. supervise
  7. produce
  8. operate
Verb
  • From a distance roughly equivalent to the size of the plates, two rough-textured, vaguely oblong stones lean toward them.
    — Barry Schwabsky, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Even the title track feels very different from traditional pop production, leaning into something more playful and club-oriented.
    — Christopher Claxton, Billboard, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of lean
Verb
  • As a child, Henrik Andersen would look out of his window in Jutland, Denmark’s windswept western peninsula, and watch the distant wind turbines turn.
    — Sam Birchall, Fortune, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Should cabin fever somehow strike, the hotel can arrange adventures further afield, from whale-watching and boat trips along the Costa Del Sol coast to private hikes through the Andalusian mountains and even cheesemaking at a local goat farm.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of watch
Verb
  • Yet the diverging political and regulatory attention paid to the two industries makes increasingly little sense, given the bond market’s growing primacy in the financial system, and its ability to also cause mayhem.
    — Robin Wigglesworth, Fortune, 29 Sep. 2026
  • Known for its expanding flosses, the company has been on a growth streak of late, growing its business 183 percent in three years and expanding its presence in key retailers like Target and Walmart.
    — Noor Lobad, Footwear News, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of grow
Verb
  • Fonda’s flawless silver pixie changed that, revealing his rare ability to transform gray hair from some something to be concealed into something to be expertly cultivated — a technique few colorists had dared to master.
    — Maggie Ryan, Flow Space, 25 Sep. 2026
  • Companies need to step up to finance the research and development throughout the project — ranging from early workshops to cultivating a team of artists to bring the film to life.
    — Tanya Fedak, Variety, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of cultivate
Verb
  • Alvarez managed to nab a foul pop-up behind the plate for the first out, but a fly ball to center field scored another run, and Abrams managed to get to third.
    — Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 26 Sep. 2026
  • Tehran has spent long weeks in discussions with Oman, on the other side of the strait, on how to manage shipping traffic.
    — Cara Anna, Los Angeles Times, 26 Sep. 2026
Definition of manage
Verb
  • Instead, before the site visit, supervising special investigator Jeffrey Eggert wrote in an email to the team that pursuing charges was not the priority.
    — CNN Money, CNN Money, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Experienced workers are needed not only to fill jobs, but to mentor apprentices, supervise jobsite learning, and teach the next generation.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of supervise
Verb
  • The company’s new v3 satellites, which are produced at a SpaceX facility in Redmond, Washington, are equipped with solar arrays that generate twice as much power as prior generations.
    — Lora Kolodny, CNBC, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Suppressing this same pathway produced the opposite result, limiting the ability to switch behavior, driving longer bouts of the repetitive behavior, as per the release.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of produce
Verb
  • Unitary status means the district is operating fairly and providing equal opportunities to all students.
    — Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Europe’s ability to meet rising electricity demand, including the power needed to operate AI data centers, Andersen notes, depends on solving its energy dependency problem.
    — Sam Birchall, Fortune, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of operate

Browse Nearby Words

tenants
tend
tended
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Cite this Entry

“Tend.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tend. Accessed 3 Oct. 2026.

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