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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’- ‘There is a limit to the levels at which children can be mollycoddled.’
- ‘If harsh prison terms and hanging is not the answer, neither is a kinder gentler mollycoddling.’
- ‘We mollycoddle prisoners in this country, to some degree.’
- ‘He certainly seems uneasy with the accoutrements of fame and says he hates being mollycoddled.’
- ‘Following the successful implementation of the smoking ban in enclosed public places, they have devised a plan to mollycoddle us into wellness.’
- ‘I have been very fortunate in being brought up in a generation which has been mollycoddled.’
- ‘It's comforting, I suppose, to think that the Government cares so much about our safety to the point of mollycoddling.’
- ‘I have always looked out for myself, I don't need any one to mollycoddle me.’
- ‘I wish I could hold her in my arms and mollycoddle her, the way I did when she was just a baby.’
- ‘‘The last thing I want to do is be mollycoddled,’ he said.’
- ‘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.’
- ‘The temptation to mollycoddle people who are unable to deal with insulting challenges to themselves or their beliefs is very strong.’
- ‘Schools are mollycoddling pupils, producing a generation of unhealthy underachievers, the government's education agency has warned.’
- ‘There is no doubt that the mollycoddling of these early years was to have a significantly negative effect on Hughes in later life.’
- ‘In other words, it becomes a point of principle that his literature mollycoddles its readers.’
- ‘He wrote that the function of fantasy was ‘consolation’, thereby making it an article of policy that a fantasy writer should mollycoddle the reader.’
- ‘Yet in spite of this mollycoddling, children today are more isolated than ever.’
- ‘This was a small step towards ending the economic mollycoddling of the aviation industry.’
- ‘People make the mistake of mollycoddling disabled people, but it's the worst thing you can do.’
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 agrees with me, and he's no mollycoddle in the critical ring.’
- ‘He wants nothing to do with such mollycoddles!’
milksop, namby-pamby, crybaby, baby, coward, weakling, milquetoastView synonyms
Origin
Mid 19th century: from molly ‘girl or prostitute’ (see moll) + coddle.
