Caress

//kəˈɹɛs// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness.

    "He exerted himself to win by indulgence and caresses the hearts of all who were under his command."

  2. 2
    a gentle affectionate stroking (or something resembling it) wordnet
  3. 3
    A gentle stroking or rubbing.
Verb
  1. 1
    To touch or kiss lovingly; to fondle. transitive

    "She loves being caressed by her boyfriend."

  2. 2
    touch or stroke lightly in a loving or endearing manner wordnet
  3. 3
    To affect as if with a caress. transitive

    "The love and anguish in his voice caressed my mind and soul."

Synonyms

All synonyms
fondlehugstrokeartful endearmentsattouchementblandishment

Example

More examples

"In Russian, the words for "caress, endearment" and "least weasel" are homonymous and possibly related etymologically."

Etymology

From French caresse, from Italian carezza (“dear”), from Latin cārus (“dear”), from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂-, akin to Sanskrit काम (kāma, “love”). Doublet of karezza.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.