caress

/kəˈɹɛs/

caress noun: an act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness.

Noun

caress (plural caresses)

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.1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XVII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and...
- And he wooed her with his soft caresses, / Wooed her with his smile of sunshine, […]1855 November 10, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Four Winds”, in The Song of Hiawatha, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 26
A gentle stroking or rubbing.

Verb

caress (third-person singular simple present caresses, present participle caressing, simple past and past participle caressed)

(transitive) To touch or kiss lovingly; to fondle.
- She loves being caressed by her boyfriend.
- The Guacho then goes up to him, caresses him, removes the poncho from his eyes, continues to caress him; so that, according to the notion of the country, the horse becomes [...]1858, J. S. Rarey, The Art Of Taming Horses, G. Routledge, →OCLC, →OL, page 13
Synonyms:

hold, soothe, stroke, kiss, canoodle, chuckle, coax, cosset, dally, dandle
(transitive) To affect as if with a caress.
- The love and anguish in his voice caressed my mind and soul.2012, Mel Berry, Graceful Intentions, page 1

caress meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

caress in Hindi

touch or kiss lovingly: हाथ फेरना hāth phernā, सहलाना sahlānā, दुलारना dulārnā, प्यार करना pyār karnā, लाड़ करना lāṛ karnā, लाड़ लड़ाना lāṛ laṛānā

caress in Tamil

வருடுதல், தடவுதல், கொஞ்சுதல், மெதுவாகத் தொடுதல்

caress in Marathi

to caress, stroke: कुरवाळणे kurvāḷṇe

caress in Urdu

to caress, stroke: سہلانا sahlānā
caress: پیار pyār

More languagesFewer languages

caress in Bengali: সোহাগ śōhag
caress in Malayalam: തഴുകുക taḻukuka
caress in Kannada: ಮುದ್ದು ಮಾಡುವುದು, ತಲೆಸವರುವುದು, ಮುದ್ದಾಡುವುದು, ಲಾಲನೆ
caress in Gujarati: લાડ lāḍ, પંપાળવું pampāḷvũ, પ્યાર pyār
caress in Assamese: মৰম morom
caress in Arabic: لَاطَفَ lāṭafa
caress in Indonesian: elus, membelai
caress in Persian: نوازش کردن navâzeš kardan
caress in Thai: เชยชม chəəi-chom, เชย chəəi
caress in Vietnamese: vuốt ve, mơn trớn

Examples of caress in a sentence

Aunt Lucia’s hands caressing my cheek or the quick motion of patting my hair.
She caressed her own breast and pleasured her moist love box while she waited.
They seemed to be begging for him to caress and kiss them.

All 37 example sentences with caress

Synonyms of caress

27 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of caress

Forms of caress

Noun
plural	caresses
Verb
third-person singular present	caresses
present participle	caressing
past participle	caressed
past	caressed

Past tense of caress: caressed

Plural of caress: caresses

Origin of caress

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.

Words formed from caress

Words that rhyme with caress

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about caress

What does caress mean?: Caress means an act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness.
What is caress in Hindi?: Caress in Hindi is हाथ फेरना (hāth phernā), सहलाना (sahlānā), दुलारना (dulārnā). See Caress meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is caress?: Caress can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce caress?: Caress is pronounced /kəˈɹɛs/.
What is the plural of caress?: The plural of caress is caresses.

Words near caress in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-caress.wav.

Cite this entry: “caress.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/caress. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.