Meanings
tenderloin1
plural tenderloins
- UScountabledatedslanguncountableA district of a city where corruption is common, often because the district is devoted to questionable businesses (peep shows, etc) which are easy for police to blackmail and extort.
Synonyms: red-light district
Tenderloin2
- historicalA neighborhood of varying extent in midtown Manhattan, New York known for illicit entertainment and associated police corruption.
She had butted their way out of the Tenderloin district into a spacious uptown apartment.
1992, Toni Morrison, Jazz, Vintage (2016), page 23 - A similar neighborhood in San Francisco, California.
The Tenderloin, a neighbourhood just south-west of touristy Union Square, is home to some 35,000 people in fewer than 50 cramped blocks. Drugs and destitution are out in the open.
2023 May 20, Tabby Kinder, George Hammond, “So long, San Francisco”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1 - A similar neighborhood in Seattle, Washington.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA district of a city where corruption is common, often because the district is devoted to questionable businesses (peep shows, etc) which are easy for police to blackmail and extort.
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe tender meat of the loin muscle on each side of the vertebral column
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Bulgarian филе
- филе (file)tenderest part of a loin of meat
Czech svíčková
- svíčkovátenderest part of a loin of meat
Dutch haas, haasbiefstuk
- haastenderest part of a loin of meat
- haasbiefstuktenderest part of a loin of meat
Finnish sisäfilee
- sisäfileetenderest part of a loin of meat
French filet
- filettenderest part of a loin of meat
German Filet, Lende
- Filettenderest part of a loin of meat
- Lendetenderest part of a loin of meat
- Mürbebratentenderest part of a loin of meat
Hungarian bélszín, vesepecsenye
- bélszíntenderest part of a loin of meat
- vesepecsenyetenderest part of a loin of meat
Norwegian indrefilet
- indrefilettenderest part of a loin of meat
Polish polędwica
- polędwicatenderest part of a loin of meat
Romanian mușchi
- mușchitenderest part of a loin of meat
Russian вы́резка
- вы́резка (výrezka)tenderest part of a loin of meat
Spanish lomo
- lomotenderest part of a loin of meat
Swedish filé, oxfilé
- filétenderest part of a loin of meat
- oxfilétenderest part of a loin of meat
- fläskfilétenderest part of a loin of meat
Turkish bonfile
- bonfiletenderest part of a loin of meat
Yiddish פֿילע
- פֿילע (file)tenderest part of a loin of meat
Cite this entry
tenderloin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenderloin
“tenderloin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenderloin. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tenderloin,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenderloin.
Source: tenderloin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.