Motherly

//ˈmʌðəli// adj, adv

adj, adv ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Befitting a mother; warm, caring, nurturing, protective, loving.

    "Clover was a stout motherly mare approaching middle life[…]"

Adjective
  1. 1
    befitting a mother; warm and nurturing wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    In a way pertaining to, befitting, or of a mother.

    "The mother sometime beateth the child, but yet her hart melteth vpon it euen in the very beating, and therefore she casteth the rodde into the fier, and colleth the childe, geueth it an apple and dandleth it moste motherly."

Adverb
  1. 1
    in a maternal manner; as a mother wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
maternalancestralfatherlymaternalmaternallymaternally

Example

More examples

"His helplessness appeals to her motherly sympathy."

Etymology

From Middle English moderly, from Old English mōdorlīċ (“motherly, maternal”), from Proto-Germanic *mōdērlīkaz (“motherly, maternal”), equivalent to mother + -ly.

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