[L. tener; allied probably to thin, L. tenuis.]

1. Soft; easily impressed, broken, bruised or injured; not firm or hard; as tender plants; tender flesh; tender grapes. Deuteronomy 32:2; Song of Solomon 2:13, 15.

2. Very sensible to impression and pain; easily pained.

Our bodies are not naturally more tender than our faces.

3. Delicate; effeminate; not hardy or able to endure hardship.

The tender and delicate woman among you. Deuteronomy 28:56.

4. Weak; feeble; as tender age. Genesis 33:13.

5. Young and carefully educated. Proverbs 4:3.

6. Susceptible of the softer passions, as love, compassion, kindness; compassionate; pitiful; easily affected by the distresses of another, or anxious for another's good; as the tender kindness of the church; a tender heart.

7. Compassionate; easily excited to pity, forgiveness or favor.

The Lord is pitiful, and of tender mercy. James 5:11; Luke 1:78.

8. Exciting kind concern.

I love Valentine;

His life's as tender to me as his soul.

9. Expressive of the softer passions; as a tender strain.

10. Careful to save inviolate, or not to injure; with of. Be tender of your neighbor's reputation.

The civil authority should be tender of the honor of God and religion.

11. Gentle; mild; unwilling to pain.

You that are so tender o'er his follies,

Will never do him good.

12. Apt to give pain; as, that is a tender subject; things that are tender and unpleasing.

13. Adapted to excite feeling or sympathy; pathetic; as tender expressions; tender expostulations.