Meaning & use
tender-hearted
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Easily moved by other people's suffering, and quick to feel sympathy and care for them.
Grammar: Used mainly before a noun or after linking verbs like be and seem: a tender-hearted teacher; she seemed tender-hearted.
Patterns
- a tender-hearted person
- be tender-hearted toward someone
- feel tender-hearted
My grandmother was a tender-hearted woman who took in every stray cat she found.
He seems tough at work, but he is tender-hearted toward his own children.
She gave the crying child a tender-hearted smile and knelt down beside him.
adjectivecomparable
Showing gentle, loving feelings in the way someone treats others.
Grammar: Describes actions or behavior as well as people: a tender-hearted gesture, a tender-hearted reply.
Patterns
- a tender-hearted gesture
- tender-hearted words
- a tender-hearted way of doing something
His tender-hearted way of talking to the old man made everyone in the room relax.
It was a tender-hearted decision to give the money away rather than keep it.
She wrote him a tender-hearted letter after hearing about his illness.
Word forms
| comparative | more tender-hearted |
|---|---|
| superlative | most tender-hearted |
Common combinations
- a tender-hearted soul
- Everyone in the village knew him as a tender-hearted soul.
- tender-hearted toward someone
- She has always been tender-hearted toward animals in trouble.
- too tender-hearted to do something
- He was too tender-hearted to fire anyone, even the worst workers.
- a tender-hearted gesture
- Bringing her flowers was a tender-hearted gesture after their argument.
- tender-hearted and kind
- His mother was tender-hearted and kind to every visitor.
Synonyms and how they differ
- kind-hearted
- Very close in meaning, but it stresses doing good for people rather than feeling sympathy; it is also the more common choice in everyday speech.
- compassionate
- More formal and slightly stronger; it suggests actively wanting to help people who suffer, not just being easily moved.
- soft-hearted
- Similar, but it often suggests being too easily persuaded or too gentle to say no.
- gentle
- Describes calm, careful behavior rather than deep sympathy for others' suffering.
Opposites
Word family
- tender-heartedness noun
- The quality of being easily moved by other people's suffering.
- tenderly adverb
- In a gentle, loving way.
- tenderness noun
- Gentle, loving feeling or care.
Commonly confused: tender-hearted or tender? tender-hearted or tenderhearted?
tender-hearted vs tender
On its own, tender can mean soft and easy to cut, or painful when touched; tender-hearted is only about feelings and character.
tender-hearted vs tenderhearted
The same word written without a hyphen; both spellings are correct, but the hyphenated form is easier to read.
Practice
Which sentence uses tender-hearted in the most natural way?
Choose one answer.
'Too tender-hearted to watch a sad film' describes someone easily moved by others' feelings, which is the meaning of the word. Option 0 confuses it with 'tender' meaning soft meat; option 2 uses it as a verb, which it is not; option 3 uses it as a noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tender-hearted”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.