Sweet vs. Tender — What's the Difference?

Having the pleasant taste characteristic of sugar or honey; not salt, sour, or bitter

Showing gentleness, kindness, and affection

Pleasing in general; delightful

(of food) easy to cut or chew; not tough

(of a person or action) pleasant and kind or thoughtful

(of a part of the body) sensitive to pain

Used for emphasis in various phrases and exclamations

Young, inexperienced, or vulnerable

A small shaped piece of confectionery made with sugar

(of a ship) leaning or readily inclined to roll in response to the wind.

A sweet dish forming a course of a meal; a pudding or dessert.

Offer or present (something) formally

Used as an affectionate form of address

An offer to carry out work, supply goods, or buy land, shares, or another asset at a stated fixed price

The sweet part or element of something

A vehicle used by a fire service for carrying specified supplies or equipment or fulfilling a specified role

Having the taste of sugar or a substance containing or resembling sugar, as honey or saccharin.

A dinghy or other boat used to ferry people and supplies to and from a ship.

Containing or derived from sugar.

A trailing vehicle closely coupled to a steam locomotive to carry fuel and water.

Retaining some natural sugar; not dry

A person who looks after someone else or a machine or place

Pleasing to the senses; agreeable

Easily crushed or bruised; fragile

Pleasing to the mind or feelings; gratifying

Easily chewed or cut

Having a pleasing disposition; lovable

Young and vulnerable

Kind; gracious

Frail; delicate.

Fragrant; perfumed

Sensitive to frost or severe cold; not hardy

Not saline or salted

Easily hurt; sensitive

Not spoiled, sour, or decaying; fresh

Painful; sore

Free of acid or acidity

Considerate and protective; solicitous

Low in sulfur content

Characterized by or expressing gentle emotions; loving

(Music) Of, relating to, or being a form of jazz characterized by adherence to a melodic line and to a time signature.

Given to sympathy or sentimentality; soft

Remarkable; outstanding.

(Nautical) Likely to heel easily under sail; crank.

Used as an intensive

To make tender.

In a sweet manner; sweetly.

To offer formally

Sweet taste or quality; sweetness.

(Law) To offer (payment or performance) pursuant to an obligation.

Something sweet to the taste.

A strip of meat, usually chicken, often breaded, deep-fried, and served with a sauce.

Foods, such as candy, pastries, puddings, or preserves, that are high in sugar content.

(Law) An offer to pay the amount due under a debt or obligation.

(Informal) Sweet potatoes

A written offer to contract goods or services at a specified cost or rate; a bid.

A sweet dish, such as pudding, served as dessert.

Something, especially money, offered in payment.

A sweetmeat or confection.

One who tends something

A dear or beloved person.

(Nautical) A vessel attendant on other vessels, especially one that ferries supplies between ship and shore.

Something pleasing to the mind or feelings.

A railroad car attached to the rear of a locomotive and designed to carry fuel and water.

Having a pleasant taste, especially one relating to the basic taste sensation induced by sugar.

Sensitive or painful to the touch.

Having a taste of sugar.

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

(wine) Retaining a portion of sugar.

Physically weak; not able to endure hardship.

Not having a salty taste.

(of food) Soft and easily chewed.

Having a pleasant smell.

Sensible to impression and pain; easily pained.

Not decaying, fermented, rancid, sour, spoiled, or stale.

Fond, loving, gentle, or sweet.

Having a pleasant sound.

Young and inexperienced.

Having a pleasing disposition.

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

Having a helpful disposition.

Apt to give pain; causing grief or pain; delicate.

(mineralogy) Free from excessive unwanted substances like acid or sulphur.

(nautical) Heeling over too easily when under sail; said of a vessel.

(informal) Very pleasing; agreeable.

(obsolete) Exciting kind concern; dear; precious.

(slang) Doing well; in a good or happy position.

(obsolete) Careful to keep inviolate, or not to injure; used with of.

Romantically fixated; enamored with; fond of.

(obsolete) Care, kind concern, regard.

; not salt or brackish.

The inner flight muscle (pectoralis minor) of poultry.

To the eye; beautiful; mild and attractive; fair.

(obsolete) Someone who tends or waits on someone.

An intensifier.

(rail transport) A railroad car towed behind a steam engine to carry fuel and water.

Used as a positive response to good news or information.

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

In a sweet manner.

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

(uncountable) The basic taste sensation induced by sugar.

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

A confection made from sugar, or high in sugar content; a candy.

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

A food eaten for dessert.

(legal) A formal offer to buy or sell something.

Synonym of sweetheart, a term of affection.

Any offer or proposal made for acceptance.

(obsolete) That which is sweet or pleasant in odour; a perfume.

Tenderly

(obsolete) Sweetness, delight; something pleasant to the mind or senses.

To make tender or delicate; to weaken.

To sweeten.

(archaic) To feel tenderly towards; to regard fondly or with consideration.

Having an agreeable taste or flavor such as that of sugar; saccharine; - opposed to sour and bitter; as, a sweet beverage; sweet fruits; sweet oranges.

To work on a tender.

Pleasing to the smell; fragrant; redolent; balmy; as, a sweet rose; sweet odor; sweet incense.

(formal) To offer, to give.

Pleasing to the ear; soft; melodious; harmonious; as, the sweet notes of a flute or an organ; sweet music; a sweet voice; a sweet singer.

To offer a payment, as at sales or auctions.

Pleasing to the eye; beautiful; mild and attractive; fair; as, a sweet face; a sweet color or complexion.

One who tends; one who takes care of any person or thing; a nurse.

Fresh; not salt or brackish; as, sweet water.

A vessel employed to attend other vessels, to supply them with provisions and other stores, to convey intelligence, or the like.

Not changed from a sound or wholesome state. Specifically: (a) Not sour; as, sweet milk or bread. (b) Not state; not putrescent or putrid; not rancid; as, sweet butter; sweet meat or fish.

A car attached to a locomotive, for carrying a supply of fuel and water.

Plaesing to the mind; mild; gentle; calm; amiable; winning; presuasive; as, sweet manners.

An offer, either of money to pay a debt, or of service to be performed, in order to save a penalty or forfeiture, which would be incurred by nonpayment or nonperformance; as, the tender of rent due, or of the amount of a note, with interest.

That which is sweet to the taste; - used chiefly in the plural.

Any offer or proposal made for acceptance; as, a tender of a loan, of service, or of friendship; a tender of a bid for a contract.

That which is sweet or pleasant in odor; a perfume.

The thing offered; especially, money offered in payment of an obligation.

That which is pleasing or grateful to the mind; as, the sweets of domestic life.

Regard; care; kind concern.

One who is dear to another; a darling; - a term of endearment.

To offer in payment or satisfaction of a demand, in order to save a penalty or forfeiture; as, to tender the amount of rent or debt.

Sweetly.

To offer in words; to present for acceptance.

To sweeten.

To have a care of; to be tender toward; hence, to regard; to esteem; to value.

English phonetician; one of the founders of modern phonetics (1845-1912)

Easily impressed, broken, bruised, or injured; not firm or hard; delicate; as, tender plants; tender flesh; tender fruit.

A dish served as the last course of a meal

Sensible to impression and pain; easily pained.

A food rich in sugar

Physically weak; not hardly or able to endure hardship; immature; effeminate.

The taste experience when sugar dissolves in the mouth

Susceptible of the softer passions, as love, compassion, kindness; compassionate; pitiful; anxious for another's good; easily excited to pity, forgiveness, or favor; sympathetic.

The property of containing sugar

Exciting kind concern; dear; precious.

Having a pleasant taste (as of sugar)

Careful to save inviolate, or not to injure; - with of.

Having a sweet nature befitting an angel or cherub;

Unwilling to cause pain; gentle; mild.

Pleasing to the ear;

Adapted to excite feeling or sympathy; expressive of the softer passions; pathetic; as, tender expressions; tender expostulations; a tender strain.

One of the four basic taste sensations; very pleasant; like the taste of sugar or honey

Apt to give pain; causing grief or pain; delicate; as, a tender subject.

Pleasing to the senses;

Heeling over too easily when under sail; - said of a vessel.

Pleasing to the mind or feeling;

Something used as an official medium of payment

Having a natural fragrance;

Someone who waits on or tends to or attends to the needs of another

(used of wines) having a sweet taste

A formal proposal to buy at a specified price

Not soured or preserved;

Car attached to a locomotive to carry fuel and water

With sweetening added

A boat for communication between ship and shore

Not having a salty taste;

Ship that usually provides supplies to other ships

In an affectionate or loving manner (`sweet' is sometimes a poetic or informal variant of `sweetly');

Offer or present for acceptance

Propose a payment;

Make a tender of; in legal settlements

Make tender or more tender as by marinating, pounding, or applying a tenderizer;

Given to sympathy or gentleness or sentimentality;

Hurting;

Susceptible to physical or emotional injury;

Having or displaying warmth or affection;

Easy to cut or chew;

Physically untoughened;

(used of boats) inclined to heel over easily under sail

(of plants) not hardy; easily killed by adverse growing condition;