Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "tender" []

  • Easily crushed or bruised; fragile: a tender petal. (adjective)
  • Easily chewed or cut: tender beef. (adjective)
  • Young and vulnerable: of tender age. (adjective)
  • Frail; delicate. (adjective)
  • Sensitive to frost or severe cold; not hardy: tender green shoots. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "tender" in a sentence
  • "The word that this singer uses is one that only appears in this place, and if we regard its etymology, there lies in it a very tender and beautiful expression of the warmth of the divine love, for it is probably connected with words in an allied language which mean the _bosom_ and a _tender embrace_, and so the picture that we have is of that great divine Lover folding 'the people' to His heart, as a mother might her child, and cherishing them in His bosom."
  • "Seared or grilled, as they are here, the lamb cubes become what he called "tender little morsels.""
  • "` ` This craven, '' he thought, ` ` will lose the day in pure faintness and cowardice of heart, which he calls tender conscience."