motherliness
- noun
- /ˈmʌðərlɪnəs/
:
maternalidad
- The later tradition used Mary, symbol of feminine obedience and motherliness, to push Mary Magdalene, who promotes friendship and sisterhood over the domesticated sexuality of mother, to the background.
Examples
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The teacher showed great motherliness by comforting her students after the difficult exam.
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Well, they're always women, and they're usually older women, in their 40s and 50s—make some comment about my being pregnant, and it's usually with this really annoying motherliness.
Blog text (5) -
There in Mudear's garden, next to the marigolds and tomato plants, they talked about her lovelessness, her heartlessness, her lack of motherliness.
Fiction book (1993) -
The guidelines adopted by the federation in 1922 described its ultimate goal as "the triumph of motherliness, which expresses itself in love and cooperation, victory of a view of life and the world that overcomes hatred and barbarism through reason and love."
Academic text (1997) -
Birgit was a talented linguist and a gifted teacher, not one to come to hasty conclusions, a good counterbalance to Essa's fussy motherliness.
Fiction book (1996) -
Her motherliness was evident in the way she cared for her friends, always providing warm meals and hugs.
-
He admired her motherliness as she patiently listened to the children's stories and offered advice.
Synonyms
41
3.4
A gentle caring feeling of love and concern for someone
4
3.9
Warm, caring feelings and actions that a mother shows
1
3.6
Warm care and kindness that a person shows to others
Warm, gentle love and care like a mother gives
A way of caring for and protecting others like a mother
A feeling of love and care for other people or animals
Antonyms
How Motherly
Surface Forms
Morphology
motherliness = motherly (transparent) = mother + ly + ness
Formed by adding the noun-forming suffix '-ness' to the adjective 'motherly', preserving the expected meaning.
Etymology
Motherliness comes from the simple word mother plus the endings -ly (meaning 'like') and -ness (meaning 'quality' or 'state'), so it literally means the 'quality of being mother-like'. That's why motherliness describes the warm, caring, and tender behavior we expect from a mother.