different between tender vs earnest

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?t?n.d?(?)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?t?n.d?/
  • (NYC) IPA^(key): /?t?n.d?/
• Rhymes: -?nd?(?)
• Hyphenation: ten?der
• Homophone: tinder (pin-pen merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English tender, tendere, from Anglo-Norman tender, Old French tendre, from Latin tener, tenerum (“soft, delicate”).

Adjective

tender (comparative tenderer, superlative tenderest)

1. Sensitive or painful to the touch.
   • 1597, William Shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well, act III, scene 2:

     […] poore Lord, is't I
     That cha?e thee from thy Countrie, and expo?e
     Tho?e tender limbes of thine […]

   • 2006, Mike Myers (as the voice of the title character), Shrek (movie)

     Be careful: that area is tender.

2. Easily bruised or injured; not firm or hard; delicate.

3. Physically weak; not able to endure hardship.

   • the tender and delicate woman among you

4. (of food) Soft and easily chewed.
   • 2001, Joey Pantolino (character), The Matrix (movie)

     The Matrix is telling my brain this steak is tender, succulent, and juicy.

5. Sensible to impression and pain; easily pained.
6. Fond, loving, gentle, sweet.

   • The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

   • 1645, Thomas Fuller, Good Thoughts in Bad Times

     I am choleric by my nature, and tender by my temper.

7. Young and inexperienced.
   • 2001 October 15, Appeals Court of Illinios (Second District) in Appelhans v. McFall:

8. Adapted to excite feeling or sympathy; expressive of the softer passions; pathetic.

9. Apt to give pain; causing grief or pain; delicate.
   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Cunning

     Things that are tender and unpleasing.

10. (nautical) Heeling over too easily when under sail; said of a vessel.
11. (obsolete) Exciting kind concern; dear; precious.
12. (obsolete) Careful to keep inviolate, or not to injure; used with of.
    • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

      tender of property

    • a. 1694, John Tillotson, The Advantages of Religion to Societies

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

Synonyms

• (soft, yielding, delicate): nesh
• See also Thesaurus:affectionate

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

tender (countable and uncountable, plural tenders)

1. (obsolete) Care, kind concern, regard.
2. The inner flight muscle (pectoralis minor) of poultry.

Etymology 2

From Middle English tender, tendur, tendir, tendre, from the adjective (see above).

Adverb

tender (comparative more tender, superlative most tender)

1. tenderly

   Love me tender, love me sweet
   Never let me go

Etymology 3

From Middle English tendren, from the adjective (see above).

Verb

tender (third-person singular simple present tenders, present participle tendering, simple past and past participle tendered)

1. (now rare) To make tender or delicate; to weaken.
   • , vol.I, New York, 2001, p.233:

     To such as are wealthy, live plenteously, at ease, […] these viands are to be forborne, if they be inclined to, or suspect melancholy, as they tender their healths […].

   • c. 1947, Putnam Fadeless Dyes [flyer packaged with granulated dye]:

     Putnam Fadeless Dyes will not injure any material. Boiling water does tender some materials. […] Also, silk fibers are very tender when wet and care should be take not to boil them too vigorously.

2. (archaic) To feel tenderly towards; to regard fondly or with consideration.
   • 1594, Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, London: William Jones,^[1]

     The angrie king hath banished me the court:

     And therefore as thou louest and tendrest me,

     Be thou my aduocate vnto these peeres.

   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act III, Scene 1 (First Folio edition):

     And ?o good Capulet, which name I tender

     As dearely as my owne, be ?atisfied.

Etymology 4

From tend +? -er.

Noun

tender (plural tenders)

1. (obsolete) Someone who tends or waits on someone.
2. (rail transport) A railroad car towed behind a steam engine to carry fuel and water.
   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter XII, p. 201, [2]

     Half the coal was out of the tender, half the fire out of the box, half the trucks were off the track, so violent was the stopping.

3. (nautical) A naval ship that functions as a mobile base for other ships.

4. (nautical) A smaller boat used for transportation between a large ship and the shore.

Synonyms

• (smaller boat): dinghy

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

tender (third-person singular simple present tenders, present participle tendering, simple past and past participle tendered)

1. To work on a tender.

Etymology 5

From Middle English tendren, from Old French tendre (“stretch out”).

Noun

tender (plural tenders)

1. Anything which is offered, proffered, put forth or bid with the expectation of a response, answer, or reply.

   • Herein, the Bard plays with the word "tender" most liberally. The boldened instance of the word is that which pertains to the instant sense.

3. A means of payment such as a check or cheque, cash or credit card.

5. (law) A formal offer to buy or sell something.

6. Any offer or proposal made for acceptance.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, Scene 3

     [...] if she should make tender of her love, 'tis very possible he'll scorn it; for the man,—as you know all,—hath a contemptible spirit.

Translations

See also

• legal tender
• put out to tender
• put out for tender

Verb

tender (third-person singular simple present tenders, present participle tendering, simple past and past participle tendered)

1. (formal) To offer, to give.
   • 1864 November 21, Abraham Lincoln (signed) or John Hay, letter to Mrs. Bixby in Boston

     I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.
2. to offer a payment, as at sales or auctions.

Synonyms

• offer

Derived terms

• tenderable
• tender something out

Translations

Anagrams

• enter'd, entred, rented, tendre

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English tender.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ten?der

Noun

tender m (plural tenders, diminutive tendertje n)

1. (finance) tender
2. (rail transport) coal-car

Synonyms

• (finance) aanbesteding

Descendants

• ? Indonesian: tender

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?t?nd?r]
• Hyphenation: tèn?dêr

Etymology 1

From Dutch tender, from English tender, from Middle English tendren, from Old French tendre (“stretch out”).

Noun

tèndêr (first-person possessive tenderku, second-person possessive tendermu, third-person possessive tendernya)

1. (trading) tender, anything which is offered, proffered, put forth or bid with the expectation of a response, answer, or reply.

Derived terms

Compounds

Etymology 2

From Dutch tender, from English tender, tend +? -er

Noun

tèndêr (first-person possessive tenderku, second-person possessive tendermu, third-person possessive tendernya)

1. (transport) tender, a railroad car towed behind a steam engine to carry fuel and water.

Further reading

• “tender” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Italian

Verb

tender

1. Apocopic form of tendere

Middle English

Noun

tender

1. Alternative form of tinder

Polish

Etymology

From English tender.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?n.d?r/

Noun

tender m inan

1. (rail transport) tender (railroad car towed behind a steam engine to carry fuel)
2. (nautical) tender (ship functioning as mobile base for other ships)

Declension

Derived terms

• (noun) tendrzak
• (adjective) tendrowy

Further reading

• tender in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• tender in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin tendere, present active infinitive of tend?, from Proto-Italic *tend?, from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch, draw”).

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /t?.?de?/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /t?.?de(?)/

Verb

tender (first-person singular present indicative tendo, past participle tendido)

1. to tend
2. to trend

Conjugation

Related terms

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin tendere, present active infinitive of tend?, from Proto-Italic *tend?, from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch, draw”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ten?de?/, [t??n??d?e?]

Verb

tender (first-person singular present tiendo, first-person singular preterite tendí, past participle tendido)

1. (intransitive) to tend to, to have a tendency
2. (transitive) to spread, to stretch out
3. (transitive) to lay (cable)
4. (transitive) to make (a bed)
5. (transitive) to hang up (clothes)
6. (transitive) to build (a bridge across an expanse)
7. (transitive) to extend (the hand)
8. (transitive) to floor (with a punch), to stretch out
9. (transitive) to cast (a net)
10. (transitive) to set (a trap)
11. (transitive) to coat (with plaster)
12. (reflexive) to lay oneself down

Conjugation

Derived terms

• tenderse
• tender una trampa (“to be set up, to be framed”)
• hay ropa tendida
• tendedero
• tendedor

Related terms

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /??n?st/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???n?st/
• Homophone: Ernest

Etymology 1

From Middle English ernest, eornest, from Old English eornest, eornost, eornust (“earnestness, zeal, seriousness, battle”), from Proto-Germanic *ernustuz (“earnest, strength, solidity, struggle, fight”), a derivative of Proto-Germanic *arniz (“efficient, capable, diligent, sure”), from Proto-Indo-European *er- (“to cause to move, arouse, increase”). Cognate with West Frisian earnst (“earnest, seriousness”), Dutch ernst (“seriousness, gravity, earnest”), German Ernst (“seriousness, earnestness, zeal, vigour”), Icelandic ern (“brisk, vigorous”), Gothic ???????????????????????? (arniba, “secure, certain, sure”).

The adjective is from Middle English eornest, from Old English eornoste (“earnest, zealous, serious”), from the noun. Cognate with North Frisian ernste (“earnest”), Middle Low German ernest, ernst (“serious, earnest”), German ernst (“serious, earnest”).

Noun

earnest (uncountable)

1. Gravity; serious purpose; earnestness.
   • 1914, February 13, The Times, Obituary: Canon Augustus Jessopp

     He wrote well in a forcible, colloquial style, with the air of being tremendously in earnest, and full of knowledge which overflowed his pages, tricked out with somewhat boisterous illustrations.

   • c. 1575-a 1586, Sir Philip Sidney, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia

     Take heed that this jest do not one day turn to earnest.

   • c. 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III: Act 5, Scene 1

     That high All-Seer which I dallied with

     Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head

     And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest.

2. Seriousness; reality; actuality (as opposed to joking or pretence)

Derived terms

• earnestful
• in earnest

Translations

Verb

earnest (third-person singular simple present earnests, present participle earnesting, simple past and past participle earnested)

1. (transitive) To be serious with; use in earnest.
   • 1602, Pastor Fido:

     Let's prove among ourselves our armes in jest, That when we come to earnest them with men, We may them better use.

Adjective

earnest (comparative earnester or more earnest, superlative earnestest or most earnest)

1. (said of an action or an utterance) Serious or honest
2. (with a positive sense) Focused in the pursuit of an objective; eager to obtain or do.

3. Intent; focused; showing a lot of concentration.

4. (said of a person or a person's character) Possessing or characterised by seriousness.

5. Strenuous; diligent.

6. Serious; weighty; of a serious, weighty, or important nature; important.

Derived terms

• earnestly
• earnestness
• in earnest

Translations

Etymology 2

Of uncertain origin; apparently related to erres. Compare also arles.

Noun

earnest (plural earnests)

1. A sum of money paid in advance as a deposit; hence, a pledge, a guarantee, an indication of something to come.

   • Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

   • 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society 2010, p. 365:

     But if all this was viewed by Gladstone and the Cabinet as an earnest of St Petersburg's future good intentions in Central Asia, then disillusionment was soon to follow.

Translations

See also

• Earnest
• earnest money

Etymology 3

earn +? -est

Verb

earnest

1. (archaic) second-person singular simple present form of earn

Anagrams

• Eastern, Saetern, Tareens, eastern, estrane, nearest, renates, sterane