Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Inspiring affection or warm sympathy.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Having a tendency to make dear or beloved; awakening affection: as, endearing qualities.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Making dear or beloved; causing love.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Inspiring love or affection, in a childlike way.
- verb Present participle of
endear .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective lovable especially in a childlike or naive way
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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My main problem with "endearing" is that I only see it used by adults talking about children (the AHD usage example is "the endearing charm of a little child") and to use it to talk about children's books betrays the child audience.
"Deceptively simple" Roger Sutton 2007
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What I find so endearing is that you have a daughter who is so obviously full of love and life and sees nothing wrong with expressing it.
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One of the things I find endearing is when you are taken someplace that makes you feel separate from the world.
All Things Girl » All Things Girl » Blog Archive » Guest Post - Molly Ringwald - Date Places 2010
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Saying that people find suicide endearing is a gross misunderstanding.
For Your Consideration: Heath Ledger for Best Supporting Actor | /Film 2008
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Like me, my soulmate has developed a certain endearing reluctance to change out of his sweatpants and leave the house after 5 p.m., and all of those kittenish young Sex and the City gals seem sharply demanding.
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Like me, my soulmate has developed a certain endearing reluctance to change out of his sweatpants and leave the house after 5 p.m., and all of those kittenish young Sex and the City gals seem sharply demanding.
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Like me, my soulmate has developed a certain endearing reluctance to change out of his sweatpants and leave the house after 5 p.m., and all of those kittenish young Sex and the City gals seem sharply demanding.
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Like me, my soulmate has developed a certain endearing reluctance to change out of his sweatpants and leave the house after 5 p.m., and all of those kittenish young Sex and the City gals seem sharply demanding.
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Gabriela-Sylvia Zabala and Ismet Redzovic at the WSWS: Anna Kokkinos's first feature Head On - an adaptation of Christos Tsiolkas's novel Loaded, although also heavily relying on 'shock tactics' of explicit sex and drug taking (like the novel itself) - while quite flawed, nonetheless had certain endearing qualities, in particular the treatment of the migrant Greek family life in Melbourne and the difficulties facing the gay son.
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Equally endearing is the partnership McDonald has with her 13-year-old chestnut mare, Brentina.
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