ca·ress

(kə-rĕs′)

A gentle touch or gesture of fondness, tenderness, or love.

tr.v. ca·ressed, ca·ress·ing, ca·ress·es

1. To touch or stroke in an affectionate or loving manner.

2. To touch or move as if with a caress: soft music that caressed the ears.

[French caresse, from Italian carezza, from caro, dear, from Latin cārus; see kā- in Indo-European roots.]

ca·ress′er n.

ca·ress′ing·ly adv.

ca·res′sive adj.

Synonyms: caress, cuddle, fondle, pat¹, pet¹, stroke²
These verbs mean to touch or handle affectionately: caressed the sleeping baby; cuddled the kitten in her arms; fondling the dog's ears; patted the child's head; petting his pony; gently stroked the patient's hand.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

caressing - affectionate play (or foreplay without contact with the genital organs)

cuddling, fondling, hugging, kissing, petting, smooching, snuggling, necking

arousal, stimulation - mutual sexual fondling prior to sexual intercourse

snogging - (British informal) cuddle and kiss

Translations

effleurement

caressing

adj → zärtlich, sanft, streichelnd

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Here and there went his hands, caressing the shoulders of the boys, playing about the tousled heads.

View in context

But if the man were to come with the doll and sit before a man in love, and begin caressing his doll as the lover caressed the woman he loved, it would be distasteful to the lover.

View in context

my dear master," replied Planchet, "you know very well that your horse is the jewel of the family; that my lads are caressing it all day, and cramming it with sugar, nuts, and biscuits.

View in context

They were, in fact, quite irksome in their attentions, and had a caressing manner at times quite importunate.

View in context

She insisted on taking her turns at walking, and when he breathed the panting mares on the steep, and Saxon stood by their heads caressing them and cheering them, Billy's joy was too deep for any turn of speech as he gazed at his beautiful horses and his glowing girl, trim and colorful in her golden brown corduroy, the brown corduroy calves swelling sweetly under the abbreviated slim skirt.

View in context

With these I spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them.

View in context

When everybody rose to go, Helene who had spoken very little all the evening again turned to Boris, asking him in a tone of caressing significant command to come to her on Tuesday.

View in context

A kind word, a caressing touch of the hand, on the part of Grey Beaver, might have sounded these deeps; but Grey Beaver did not caress, nor speak kind words.

View in context

A pat and a rub around the ears from the man, and a more prolonged caressing from the woman, and he was away down the trail in front of them, gliding effortlessly over the ground in true wolf fashion.

View in context

He was basking in the love of relatives and friends whom he had not seen for fifty years; and about him and caressing him were also descendants of his own body whom he had never seen at all till now; but to him these were all strangers, his memory was gone, his mind was stag- nant.

View in context

"At least, I am now at liberty to believe, without too much fatuity, that you love another," said the young man, in a caressing tone, "and I repeat that I am really interested for the count."

View in context

Not, of course, to speak in the caressing way into which he had unguardedly fallen before dinner, but to set things right with her by a kindness which would have the air of friendly civility, and prevent her from running away with wrong notions about their mutual relation.

View in context