kindly
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkaɪn(d)li/
rhymes: -aɪndli
Forms: form: kindlier
form: kindliest
Etymology: From Middle English kyndely, kyndeliche, from Old English cyndelīċ (“natural, kindly”); equivalent to kind + -ly.
Senses: examples: text: A kindly old man sits on the park bench every afternoon feeding pigeons.
text: The shade by which my life was crost, […] Has made me kindly with my kind
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto LXVI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 91:
text: This was the first long train journey I ever took, and the details remain in my memory as sharply as if they had taken place last week. Hopping on the Circle Line to King's Cross, boarding the compartmentalised train, the kindly ticket inspectors, and every station where the Grimsby express stopped (in those days it didn't go through to Cleethorpes).
ref: 2021 July 28, Christian Wolmar, “Forgotten by the railways, but ripe for the exploring”, in RAIL, number 936, page 34:
glosses: Having a kind personality; kind, warmhearted, sympathetic.
examples: text: Ye Heav'ns! from high the devvy nectar pour, / And in ſoft ſilence ſhed the kindly ſhovv'r!
ref: 1712 (date written), Alexander Pope, “Messiah. A Sacred Eclogue, in Imitation of Virgil’s Pollio.”, in The Works of Alexander Pope Esq. […], volume I, London: […] J[ohn] and P[aul] Knapton, H. Lintot, J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, and S. Draper, published 1751, →OCLC, page 38:
text: His Brothers' wisdom or their love— / But calmly from the spot withdrew; / The like endeavours to renew, / should e'er a kindlier time ensue.
ref: 1815, William Wordsworth, “(please specify the page)”, in The White Doe of Rylstone; or The Fate of the Nortons. A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], →OCLC:
text: Lead, kindly Light, amid th' encircling gloom, / ⁠Lead Thou me on
ref: 1833, John Henry Newman, Lead, kindly Light:
glosses: Favourable, gentle, pleasant, tidy, auspicious, beneficent.
glosses: Lawful.
examples: text: the kindly fruits of the earth
ref: 1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC:
text: An heard of Bulles, whom kindly rage doth sting,
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 11:
text: [W]hatsoever as the Son of God He may do, it is kindly for Him, as the Son of Man, to save the sons of men.
ref: 1609 November 15 (Gregorian calendar), Lancelot Andrewes, “A Sermon Preached before the King’s Majesty at Whitehall, on the Fifth of November, A.D. MDCIX”, in J[ohn] P[osthumous] W[ilson], editor, Ninety-six Sermons […], volume IV, Oxford, Oxfordshire: John Henry Parker, published 1841, →OCLC, page 253:
glosses: Natural; inherent to the kind or race.
Synonyms: word: compassionate
word: benignant
word: good-hearted
word: kind
word: kindhearted
word: humane
word: softhearted
word: sympathetic
word: tender
word: tenderhearted
word: warmhearted
word: attentive
word: considerate
word: thoughtful
word: affable
word: benign
word: cordial
word: friendly
word: gentle
word: good
word: good-natured
word: good-tempered
word: gracious
word: mild
word: nice
word: pleasant
word: clement
word: forbearing
word: forgiving
word: lenient
word: merciful
word: soft
word: patient
word: pitying
word: tolerant
word: understanding
word: altruistic
word: brotherly
word: generous
word: charitable
word: greathearted
word: humanitarian
word: magnanimous
word: noble
word: openhearted
word: philanthropic
word: unselfish
word: unsparing
Derived terms: kindlily
kindliness
kindly tenant
overkindly
seakindly
sea-kindly
unkindly