Tikibu: pronunciation dictionary with use examples

Word: motherly
IPA transcription: [m'ʌðɚli]
adverb meaning of the word
  • Synonyms: motherly
    Meaning: befitting a mother; warm and nurturing
r meaning of the word
  • Synonyms: maternally, motherly
    Meaning: in a maternal manner; as a mother; "she loved her students almost maternally"
Usage examples
  • Mrs. Ware might be excused for the little air of motherly pride with which she gazed at her five.
  • She doesn't bounce, but moves quietly, and takes care of a certain little person in a motherly way which delights me.
  • 'Come here, come directly, it's Miss Hale!' And then she went up to Margaret, and shook her hands with motherly fondness.
  • She was kindly natured, fond of young girls and cared for her pupils with motherly instincts seldom possessed by those in similar positions.
  • After that, motherly reproach, fatherly inquiry, plenteous bread and milk, many eager explanations and much descriptive narrative simultaneously uttered by two mouths eager both to eat and to talk.
  • The kind motherly nature of Miss W---, and the small number of the girls, made the establishment more like a private family than a school. Moreover, she was a native of the district immediately surrounding Roe Head, as were the majority of her pupils.
  • She was a plain, motherly kind of woman, who had worked hard in her youth, and now thought herself entitled to the occasional holiday of a tea-visit; and having formerly owed much to Mr. Woodhouse's kindness, felt his particular claim on her to leave her neat parlour, hung round with fancy-work, whenever she could, and win or lose a few sixpences by his fireside.
  • She was a plain, motherly kind of woman, who had worked hard in her youth, and now thought herself entitled to the occasional holiday of a tea-visit; and having formerly owed much to Mr. Woodhouse's kindness, felt his particular claim on her to leave her neat parlour, hung round with fancy-work, whenever she could, and win or lose a few sixpences by his fireside.