tender
UK /ˈtɛn.dəː/ · US /ˈtɛn.dɚ/ adjective, noun, adverb, verb
Forms tenderer tenderest tenders tendering tendered
- adjective Sensitive or painful to the touch.
- adjective Easily bruised or injured; not firm or hard; delicate. “tender plants”
- adjective Physically weak; not able to endure hardship.
- adjective (of food) Soft and easily chewed.
- adjective Sensible to impression and pain; easily pained.
- adjective Fond, loving, gentle, or sweet. “Suzanne was such a tender mother to her children.”
- adjective Young and inexperienced. “I first had a girlfriend at the tender age of seven.”
- adjective Adapted to excite feeling or sympathy; expressive of the softer passions; pathetic. “tender expressions; tender expostulations; a tender strain”
- noun (obsolete) Care, kind concern, regard.
- noun The inner flight muscle (pectoralis minor) of poultry.
- adverb tenderly
- verb (now rare) To make tender or delicate; to weaken.
- verb (archaic) To feel tenderly towards; to regard fondly or with consideration.
- noun (rail transport) A specialized rail wagon hauled behind a steam engine to carry fuel and water.
- noun (nautical) A naval ship that functions as a mobile base for other ships. “submarine tender”
- noun (nautical) A smaller boat used for transportation between a large ship and the shore.
- noun (diving) A member of a diving team who assists a diver during a dive but does not themselves go underwater.
- noun (archaic outside certain compounds) Someone who tends or waits on something or someone.
- verb To work on a tender.
- noun Anything which is offered, proffered, put forth or bid with the expectation of a response, answer, or reply. “You offer me the sword of my father, the very man whose bones, because of your perfidy, lie under the sod of Crecy. Aye, I'll surely take it, and just as surely you shall die with your tender through your heart!”
Synonyms
nesh dinghy offer legal tender stamp attendant attender bid ship's boat pinnace cutter supply ship tenderize tenderise sensitive sore raw affectionate fond lovesome warm untoughened crank cranky tippy
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English tender, tendere, from Anglo-Norman tendre, Old French tendre, from Latin tener, tenerum (“soft, delicate”).
From Middle English tender, tendur, tendir, tendre, from the adjective (see above).
From Middle English tendren, from the adjective (see above).
From tend + -er. Compare attender (“one who attends”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun One who tends; one who takes care of any person or thing; a nurse.
- noun A vessel employed to attend other vessels, to supply them with provisions and other stores, to convey intelligence, or the like.
- verb To offer in payment or satisfaction of a demand, in order to save a penalty or forfeiture; as, to tender the amount of rent or debt.
- verb To offer in words; to present for acceptance.
Etymology [From Tend to attend. Cf. Attender.]
Etymology [F. tendre to stretch, stretch out, reach, L. tendere. See Tend to move.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tender”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details