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, loving, tenderheartedRelated 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, sisterlyNear 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, unsentimentalAntonyms 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, humane, tenderhearted, warmheartedRelated 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-freeNear 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, uncharitableAntonyms 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, weak, unsubstantial, wasted, weakened, wimpish, wimpyRelated 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, yieldingNear 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, recuperatingAntonyms 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, gentleRelated Words calm, pacific, peaceful, placid, quiet, serene, tranquil; clement, compassionate, easy, lenient, merciful; buffering, cushioning, emollient, softening; sleek, slick, smoothNear 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