'Tenderest' definitions:

Definition of 'Tenderest'

From: GCIDE
  • Tender \Ten"der\, a. [Compar. Tenderer; superl. Tenderest.] [F. tendre, L. tener; probably akin to tenuis thin. See Thin.]
  • 1. Easily impressed, broken, bruised, or injured; not firm or hard; delicate; as, tender plants; tender flesh; tender fruit. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Sensible to impression and pain; easily pained. [1913 Webster]
  • Our bodies are not naturally more tender than our faces. --L'Estrange. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Physically weak; not hardly or able to endure hardship; immature; effeminate. [1913 Webster]
  • The tender and delicate woman among you. --Deut. xxviii. 56. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. Susceptible of the softer passions, as love, compassion, kindness; compassionate; pitiful; anxious for another's good; easily excited to pity, forgiveness, or favor; sympathetic. [1913 Webster]
  • The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. --James v. 11. [1913 Webster]
  • I am choleric by my nature, and tender by my temper. --Fuller. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. Exciting kind concern; dear; precious. [1913 Webster]
  • I love Valentine, Whose life's as tender to me as my soul! --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. Careful to save inviolate, or not to injure; -- with of. "Tender of property." --Burke. [1913 Webster]
  • The civil authority should be tender of the honor of God and religion. --Tillotson. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. Unwilling to cause pain; gentle; mild. [1913 Webster]
  • You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies, Will never do him good. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 8. Adapted to excite feeling or sympathy; expressive of the softer passions; pathetic; as, tender expressions; tender expostulations; a tender strain. [1913 Webster]
  • 9. Apt to give pain; causing grief or pain; delicate; as, a tender subject. "Things that are tender and unpleasing." --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
  • 10. (Naut.) Heeling over too easily when under sail; -- said of a vessel. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: Tender is sometimes used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, tender-footed, tender-looking, tender-minded, tender-mouthed, and the like. [1913 Webster]
  • Syn: Delicate; effeminate; soft; sensitive; compassionate; kind; humane; merciful; pitiful. [1913 Webster]