Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, like, or appropriate to a mother: motherly love.
- adj. Showing the affection of a mother.
- adv. In a manner befitting a mother.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Pertaining to a mother: as, motherly power or authority.
- Becoming or characteristic of a mother; tender; parental; affectionate: as, motherly love or care.
- Like a mother.
- Synonyms Motherly, Maternal, Parental. The same distinction holds between the Anglo-Saxon word and the Latin ones in this list that is found in the words compared under brotherly and under fatherly.
- In the manner of a mother.
Wiktionary
- adj. Befitting a mother, warm, caring, nurturing, protective, loving.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or pertaining to a mother; like, or suitable for, a mother; tender; maternal.
- adv. In a manner of a mother.
WordNet 3.0
- adv. in a maternal manner; as a mother
- adj. befitting a mother; warm and nurturing
Etymologies
- mother + -ly (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Is she "lacking in motherly inhibitions and propriety and self-control" [p. 156]?”
“She was quiet, simple; in short, motherly, when seen by Cooper the winter of 1828-29.”
“She was quiet, simple; in short, motherly, when seen by Cooper the winter of”
“Almost every woman who meets him feels either the secret urge to fuck him, or becomes awash in motherly protective urges, or both.”
“In charged Bella Abzug, who former Ms. editor Suzanne Braun Levine noted wasn't "polite" or "motherly" -- and therefore, everyone from the conservatives to the peace activists were wary of.”
Jessica Wakeman: On Sexist Media Coverage of Hillary Clinton
“You can be called the motherly one, if you are in a group of people, which doesn't have to be bad.”
“From the time of her first acquaintance with him, till her death, in 1821, she treated him with the most flattering regard, -- with an affection, indeed, that might be called motherly, had there not been in it an element of excitement which was neither maternal nor dignified.”
“Welcome to Elk Lodge!" called a motherly voice, and Mrs. Macksey appeared in the open door of the main corridor.”
The Moving Picture Girls Snowbound Or, The Proof on the Film
“Leave Poll alone; she's in one of her trances!" called a motherly, good-natured woman whose trunk stood next to Polly's, and whose business was to support a son and three daughters upon stalwart shoulders, both figuratively and literally.”
“` ` Leave Poll alone; she's in one of her trances! '' called a motherly, good-natured woman whose trunk stood next to Polly's, and whose business was to support a son and three daughters upon stalwart shoulders, both figuratively and literally.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘motherly’.
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RBC: Adjectives for Henry's Ma
Our class list of adjectives for Henry's Ma.
determined, cautious, disappointed, uncertain, wise, stubborn, passionate, unsupportive, forgiving, firm, honest, dishonest and 36 more...
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♡LOVE and things like it♡
dedicated to my man Steven, without whom i would be addicted to drugs, lying in a gutter, hating myself, or hooking somewhere :)
affectionate, amative, amatory, amiable, ammophilous, amorous, ardent, attached to, attracted to, beloved, bewitching, bitten and 404 more...
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