fondness

fond¹ (fɒnd)

—*adj* (foll by of)
1.	predisposed (to); having a liking (for)
2.	loving; tender: a fond embrace
3.	indulgent; doting: a fond mother
4.	(of hopes, wishes, etc) cherished but unlikely to be realized: he had fond hopes of starting his own business
5.	archaic, dialect or
	a. foolish
	b. credulous

[C14 fonned, from fonnen to be foolish, from fonne a fool]

'fondly¹

—*adv*

'fondness¹

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Example sentences

Fly geneticists have been renowned-and chastised-for their fondness for quirky

names.

Neither name, however, expresses even faintly the fondness those cultures have

for the soybean.

The old fondness and the old playfulness were restored.

Now there was pride and fondness in recalling their memories.

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Matching Quote

"I love and honour [Paulus Aemilius, in Plutarch's Lives], for his fondness for his children, which instead of blushing at, he avows and glories in: and that at an age, when almost all the heros and great men thought that to make their children and family a secondary concern, was the first proof of their superiority and greatness of soul."

-Frances Burney