a tendency to express warm, compassionate feelings (noun)
concern for the feelings or welfare of others (noun)
pain or discomfort when an affected area is touched (noun)
Examples of word tenderness
Iago devotes himself to wronged Othello, and says, _Let him command whatever bloody business_, and in me it shall be an act, not of cruelty, but _of tenderness, to obey him_; not of malice to other, but of _tenderness_ for him.
I very well understand what you call tenderness, madam; but in some situations, pity -- pity -- is the greatest insult.
I never, my dear girl, knew happiness till now; my tenderness is absolutely a species of idolatry; you cannot think what a slave this lovely girl has made me.
Tess and her mother, the Ungers, and other friends heard him speak to the college graduates about the word tenderness as it is enacted in Chekhov’s novella Ward No. 6.
But I feel a certain tenderness towards all of the characters, perhaps especially the most flawed ones.