tenderness

noun

ten·​der·​ness ˈten-dər-nəs 

: a tender quality or condition: such as

a

: gentleness and affection

His voice quavered with tenderness.

—Joyce Carol Oates

b

: the quality of being succulent and easily chewed

How you carve the meat enhances the tenderness and juiciness of each portion.

—Kemp Minifie

c

: sensitivity to touch or palpation

They found a small increased risk of reactions such as redness, swelling, and/or tenderness at the injection site …

—The Journal of the American Medical Association

Synonyms

• beneficence
• benevolence
• benignancy
• benignity
• compassionateness
• good-heartedness
• humaneness
• kindheartedness
• kindliness
• kindness
• softheartedness
• tenderheartedness
• warmheartedness

Examples of tenderness in a Sentence

volunteers at the shelter tended to all the animals in their care with great tenderness

Recent Examples on the Web

What truly holds marriages together is truth delivered with tenderness. —Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 5 Apr. 2025

Charcuterie and cheese, potatoes and onions, meat and offal: These are the ingredients that animate Harris’s chalkboard menu, all old friends, treated with a grandmotherly mix of tenderness and brawn. —Amiel Stanek, Bon Appetit Magazine, 4 Apr. 2025

Let tenderness and surrender do what force could never accomplish. —Colin Bedell, Them., 3 Apr. 2025

The symphony, in any performance, is a compound of despair, tenderness, and triumph. —David Denby, The Atlantic, 1 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for tenderness

• slenderness