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.
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   2. Sensible to impression and pain; easily pained.
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            Our bodies are not naturally more tender than our
            faces.                                --L'Estrange.
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   3. Physically weak; not hardly or able to endure hardship;
      immature; effeminate.
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            The tender and delicate woman among you. --Deut.
                                                  xxviii. 56.
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   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.
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            The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
                                                  --James v. 11.
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            I am choleric by my nature, and tender by my temper.
                                                  --Fuller.
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   5. Exciting kind concern; dear; precious.
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            I love Valentine,
            Whose life's as tender to me as my soul! --Shak.
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   6. Careful to save inviolate, or not to injure; -- with of.
      "Tender of property." --Burke.
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            The civil authority should be tender of the honor of
            God and religion.                     --Tillotson.
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   7. Unwilling to cause pain; gentle; mild.
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            You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies,
            Will never do him good.               --Shak.
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   8. Adapted to excite feeling or sympathy; expressive of the
      softer passions; pathetic; as, tender expressions; tender
      expostulations; a tender strain.
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   9. Apt to give pain; causing grief or pain; delicate; as, a
      tender subject. "Things that are tender and unpleasing."
      --Bacon.
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   10. (Naut.) Heeling over too easily when under sail; -- said
       of a vessel.
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   Note: Tender is sometimes used in the formation of
         self-explaining compounds; as, tender-footed,
         tender-looking, tender-minded, tender-mouthed, and the
         like.
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   Syn: Delicate; effeminate; soft; sensitive; compassionate;
        kind; humane; merciful; pitiful.
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