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verb
[with object]Treat (someone) in an indulgent or overprotective way.
‘I found school very difficult, and realized I'd been mollycoddled at home’‘he was getting too old for such mollycoddling’- ‘If they were being mollycoddled and taking advantage of the system, they would be doing well for themselves.’
- ‘After a hard day at the office, all I want to do is go home to be mollycoddled.’
- ‘Following the successful implementation of the smoking ban in enclosed public places, they have devised a plan to mollycoddle us into wellness.’
- ‘In other words, it becomes a point of principle that his literature mollycoddles its readers.’
- ‘Schools are mollycoddling pupils, producing a generation of unhealthy underachievers, the government's education agency has warned.’
- ‘It's comforting, I suppose, to think that the Government cares so much about our safety to the point of mollycoddling.’
- ‘The temptation to mollycoddle people who are unable to deal with insulting challenges to themselves or their beliefs is very strong.’
- ‘I have always looked out for myself, I don't need any one to mollycoddle me.’
- ‘There is a limit to the levels at which children can be mollycoddled.’
- ‘He wrote that the function of fantasy was ‘consolation’, thereby making it an article of policy that a fantasy writer should mollycoddle the reader.’
- ‘‘The last thing I want to do is be mollycoddled,’ he said.’
- ‘This was a small step towards ending the economic mollycoddling of the aviation industry.’
- ‘We mollycoddle prisoners in this country, to some degree.’
- ‘There is no doubt that the mollycoddling of these early years was to have a significantly negative effect on Hughes in later life.’
- ‘If harsh prison terms and hanging is not the answer, neither is a kinder gentler mollycoddling.’
- ‘People make the mistake of mollycoddling disabled people, but it's the worst thing you can do.’
- ‘He certainly seems uneasy with the accoutrements of fame and says he hates being mollycoddled.’
- ‘Yet in spite of this mollycoddling, children today are more isolated than ever.’
- ‘I have been very fortunate in being brought up in a generation which has been mollycoddled.’
- ‘I wish I could hold her in my arms and mollycoddle her, the way I did when she was just a baby.’
pamper, cosset, coddle, spoil, indulge, overindulge, pet, baby, wait on hand and foot, wrap in cotton wool, spoon-feed, kill by kindness, kill with kindness, nanny, nursemaid, feather-bed, overparentView synonyms
noun
An effeminate or ineffectual man or boy.
‘baseball is a game for red-blooded men and mollycoddles better stay out of it’- ‘He wants nothing to do with such mollycoddles!’
- ‘He agrees with me, and he's no mollycoddle in the critical ring.’
coward, namby-pamby, milksop, milquetoast, mouse, weaklingmilksop, namby-pamby, crybaby, baby, coward, weakling, milquetoastView synonyms
Origin
Mid 19th century: from molly ‘girl or prostitute’ (see moll) + coddle.
