Adjacent Words

mollycoddle definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a pampered darling; an effeminate man v
1: treat with excessive indulgence; "grandparents often pamper the children"; "Let's not mollycoddle our students!" [syn: pamper, featherbed, cosset, cocker, baby, coddle, mollycoddle, spoil, indulge]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Molly, nickname for Mary Date: 1833 a pampered or effeminate man or boy II. transitive verb (-coddled; mollycoddling) Date: 1864 to treat with an excessive or absurd degree of indulgence and attention Synonyms: see indulge • mollycoddler noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.tr. coddle, pamper. --n. an effeminate man or boy; a milksop. Etymology: formed as MOLL + CODDLE

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(mollycoddles, mollycoddling, mollycoddled) If you accuse someone of mollycoddling someone else, you are critical of them for doing too many things for the other person and protecting them too much from unpleasant experiences. Christopher accused me of mollycoddling Andrew. VERB: V n [disapproval]

Moby Thesaurus

Lord Fauntleroy, Milquetoast, Percy, baby, bay, big baby, cater to, chicken, cocker, coddle, cosset, cream puff, crybaby, doormat, dull tool, effeminate, enfant terrible, favor, give way to, goody-goody, gratify, gutless wonder, humor, indulge, invertebrate, jellyfish, lightweight, lily, meek soul, milksop, much, namby-pamby, nance, nancy, naughty child, nebbish, nonentity, oblige, old woman, pamper, pansy, pantywaist, please, pushover, sad sack, satisfy, sissy, softling, softy, sop, spoil, spoiled child, weak sister, weakling, yield to