How to Use motherly in a Sentence
motherly
adjective- She took her motherly duties very seriously.
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And there's a bond that forms with something like that to see the motherly love.
—Georgia Slater, Peoplemag, 26 Sep. 2023
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By the way, the motherly figure played an important role in the lives of both of you.
—Billboard Italy, Billboard, 30 June 2021
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In her late 60s, Ms. Glass looks at him with a motherly mix of pride and concern.
—Allen Arthur, The Christian Science Monitor, 11 Mar. 2024
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The idea of motherly instinct can go so bad so fast and just become a cliché.
—Matthew Jacobs, Vulture, 22 June 2021
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The café is a labor of motherly love by its founder, Colleen Morgan.
—Susan Dunne, courant.com, 3 Feb. 2022
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Breast milk is revered as the ideal food for newborns and a sign of motherly nurture.
—Sushma Subramanian, Washington Post, 13 May 2022
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Not all of it did — Stein refers to much of her work as fictional — but the motherly concern was fair.
—Brandon Yu, San Francisco Chronicle, 15 May 2018
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But if your motherly warnings do not take, rest assured that the phase will not last long.
—Washington Post, 26 Mar. 2021
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And her honesty, too, about how our culture can infect the motherly mind, can do a world of good.
—Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review, 11 Oct. 2021
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His doctor, a motherly woman, speaks for him: There were four of them.
—Text By Ellen Barry, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2023
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The singer went on to call Bey’s mom, Tina Knowles, who gave her some tough motherly love about the situation.
—Rania Aniftos, Billboard, 17 Oct. 2022
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In a moment of motherly instinct, Colleen Wallin bent down to check the metal hook that linked 18-year-old Ero's sled to his team of Alaskan huskies.
—Katie Galioto, Star Tribune, 5 Feb. 2021
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Don't let her motherly nature and warm sense of humor fool you.
—Noelle Devoe, Seventeen, 19 Mar. 2018
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Yeoh is fierce and cutthroat in the role, alternately motherly and vicious from one turn to the next.
—Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 4 Jan. 2024
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To care for him, the King family had to take over much of Keenly's motherly duties.
—Alaa Elassar, CNN, 24 May 2020
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Nobuyo begins to feel motherly towards her, and the wise grandma (Kiki Kilin) takes a shine to her.
—Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 May 2018
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Anne isn't the only one who offered proof of her mother's motherly warmth.
—Olivia Blair, Town & Country, 26 Oct. 2017
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Their search led them to Abby, a chimp that has motherly instincts and boasts a great track record of raising orphans.
—Carl Engelking, Discover Magazine, 7 May 2015
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Except maybe Wanda, who struck a motherly tone in their talks.
—Han Ong, The New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2021
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But during the first stages of childhood, motherly love is more vital.
—James Taranto, WSJ, 27 Oct. 2017
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In the process, Kevin crashes a dirt bike and frets about all his motherly/fatherly duties.
—Matt Miller, Esquire, 3 Oct. 2017
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The Life section is chock full of motherly advice and the Pure Gold section is for everything else.
—Sarah Title, Peoplemag, 17 Mar. 2024
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The love, the child, and all those motherly feelings that the mothers speak about in such an enticing way, as though a child is something to have, not something to do.
—Rachel Aviv, The New Yorker, 30 Apr. 2018
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Renee agreed, and then added some motherly intuition about the outdoorsy teen who loves to fish and to go mudding with his friends.
—Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 25 Oct. 2023
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Since George is wide awake (unlike Louis), Kate is using her motherly instincts to keep him calm.
—Alex Warner, Marie Claire, 9 July 2018
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But remember, self-love is just as big as motherly love.
—Jack Irvin, Peoplemag, 18 Apr. 2023
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But Tizon is less clear about how affection, motherly love, and even attempts to set people free can strengthen the bonds of bondage.
—Vann R. Newkirk Ii, The Atlantic, 20 May 2017
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Williams is thoughtful and quiet, with an air of motherly exhaustion, as if the days and the nights, the joy and the crises, had been in the wash together for the years of Maliyah’s life and their colors had blurred.
—Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, 28 June 2021
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The most loving, fiercely motherly thing to do in this whole world is to want to know who your children are, and to love them on that honest and genuine basis.
—Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 28 July 2022
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'motherly.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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