From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmotherlymoth‧er‧ly /ˈmʌðəli $ -ðər-/ adjective MOTHERa motherly woman is loving and kind, like a good mother → maternal her motherly instincts She was a plump, motherly woman in her fifties. —motherliness noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
motherly• motherly advice• Miss Gilbert was motherly but firm, an excellent teacher for the lower forms.• Charles found himself muttering to the motherly dresser, who handed him his hat.• From an attitude of generosity, warm feeling and motherly goodness, she now had shifted into a mood of high hilarity.• All Molly's motherly instincts erupted when she saw what it was.• Impotently, she held both her arms wide in a gesture of motherly love, as though this would comfort him.• If images do not appear as motherly they can not be Goddesses.• But motherly warmth turns cold beside the journalistic revulsion the Molinari gambit provokes.• "Don't worry, " Laura said in a gentle motherly way.• Marguerite was not exactly a motherly woman, but she was in some way comfortable.• a kind, motherly woman 