Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In a tender manner.
  • Kindly; with pity or affection; fondly.
  • With a keen sense of pain; keenly; bitterly.
  • Delicately; effeminately: as, a child tenderly reared.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb In a tender manner; with tenderness; mildly; gently; softly; in a manner not to injure or give pain; with pity or affection; kindly.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb In a tender manner; gently; sweetly.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb with tenderness; in a tender manner

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Ginny applied it to her skin tenderly, asking "Do you stay in touch with all those kids?"

    MORE FROM GINNY BATES: SO LOVELY, WOMEN TOGETHER Maggie Jochild 2007

  • Then Freleng kissed Hannah again tenderly with all the love he could imply in that simple gesture.

    365 tomorrows » 2006 » October : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day 2006

  • He said the name tenderly, with an inflection he had never used before.

    Marcia Schuyler Grace Livingston Hill Lutz

  • There I saw the garden, and Marie walking up and down, but still I did not recognise her; she came forward, smiling, and held out her arms to me calling tenderly: “Therese, dear little Therese!”

    The Story of a Soul Lisieux, St Therese of 1912

  • He breathed the word tenderly, reverently and she felt the blessing and the wonder of the love of this great simple-hearted man.

    The Man of the Desert Grace Livingston Hill 1906

  • To say that every object far or near was visible as distinctly as by day, yet more tenderly, is to say nothing.

    A Thousand Miles Up the Nile 1891

  • But, as he smiled at her, with the tears in his eyes, speaking her name tenderly, her frightened look relaxed, and she remained staring at him with the shrinking furtive expression of a quite young child.

    The History of David Grieve Humphry Ward 1885

  • Her words began harshly, but ended with his name tenderly, pitifully uttered.

    The Leatherwood God William Dean Howells 1878

  • Perhaps Mrs. Rossitur thought so, for, again tenderly kissing her before she left the room, she told Hugh to take off her things and make her feel at home.

    Queechy 1854

  • There I saw the garden, and Marie walking up and down, but still I did not recognise her; she came forward, smiling, and held out her arms to me calling tenderly: "Therese, dear little

    Story of a Soul (l'Histoire d'une Ame): The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux 1873-1897 1912

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