as in kindness
sympathetic concern for the well-being of others
volunteers at the shelter tended to all the animals in their care with great tenderness
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Recent Examples of tenderness
This momentary pause, this saving interruption of the headlong, breathless trajectory of rape or murder, admitted a kind of compassion, pity, even tenderness, halting injustice in its tracks.
—
Sarah Beckwith, New Yorker, 26 May 2025
In addition to bleeding in late pregnancy, placental abruption can also cause sudden abdominal and back pain, cramping and tenderness, and intense contractions.
—Lisa McCarty, SELF, 21 May 2025
The title, in Muslim eschatology, refers to a narrow bridge between Paradise and Hell, which is fitting, insofar as Laxe’s movie is both a nightmarish experience and an exhilarating one—a pitiless ordeal that is nonetheless underpinned by extraordinary love and tenderness.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 26 May 2025
If there is an archetypal quality to each girl and if this is amplified by the stereotypical nature of their problems, there is enough tenderness in the atmosphere of the shelter to allow each actor to take their foot of the gas and relax into the small and soothing tasks that make up domesticity.
—Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 23 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for tenderness
Sarah Beckwith, New Yorker, 26 May 2025
In addition to bleeding in late pregnancy, placental abruption can also cause sudden abdominal and back pain, cramping and tenderness, and intense contractions.
—Lisa McCarty, SELF, 21 May 2025
The title, in Muslim eschatology, refers to a narrow bridge between Paradise and Hell, which is fitting, insofar as Laxe’s movie is both a nightmarish experience and an exhilarating one—a pitiless ordeal that is nonetheless underpinned by extraordinary love and tenderness.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 26 May 2025
If there is an archetypal quality to each girl and if this is amplified by the stereotypical nature of their problems, there is enough tenderness in the atmosphere of the shelter to allow each actor to take their foot of the gas and relax into the small and soothing tasks that make up domesticity.
—Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 23 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for tenderness
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tenderness
kindness
Noun
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By Carol McCloud, Illustrated by David Messing Summary: This book explains clearly and simply how everyone has an invisible bucket that can be filled through small acts of kindness or emptied by acts of thoughtlessness or cruelty.—
Esther K. Choy,
Forbes.com,
1 June 2025
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Please advise me how to navigate this tricky territory with respect and kindness.—
Judith Martin,
The Orlando Sentinel,
29 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tenderness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tenderness. Accessed 14 Jun. 2025.
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