dote
Americanverb (used without object)
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to bestow or express excessive love or fondness habitually (usually followed by on orupon ).
They dote on their youngest daughter.
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to show a decline of mental faculties, especially associated with old age.
noun
verb
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to love to an excessive or foolish degree
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to be foolish or weak-minded, esp as a result of old age
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dotesimple
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dotessimple
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have dotedperfect
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has dotedperfect
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am dotingprogressive
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are dotingprogressive
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is dotingprogressive
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have been dotingperfect progressive
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has been dotingperfect progressive
Past
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dotedsimple
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had dotedperfect
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was dotingprogressive
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were dotingprogressive
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had been dotingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dote
1175–1225; Middle English doten “to behave foolishly, become feeble-minded”; cognate with Middle Dutch doten
Explanation
Who doesn't love to have someone dote on them? If you dote on someone, you shower them with love and attention. Sounds like the life! Parents that dote on their children too much might find themselves in trouble down the road; all that unadulterated devotion is a surefire way to spoil your kid. The problem is that those who are doing the doting are often too smitten to see when the object of their affection is acting like a complete jerk. No wonder dote is related to a German word that means "to be foolish." That connection might also explain the use of dote to mean acting senile in one's later years.
Vocabulary lists containing dote
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act III
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He remembered a mother “with a great sense of humor and a sarcastic wit” who liked to dote on her Chihuaha-dachshund mix, Hercules, and attend daily Mass.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 2, 2024
Actor-comedian Anthony Anderson is a proud mama’s boy and loves to dote on his mother, Doris.
From Washington Times • Jun. 23, 2023
He handles all the boring life matters like bills for us and I dote on him.
From Slate • Dec. 2, 2022
Sometimes having staff dote on laid-back guests can be enough to fix the problem.
From Washington Post • Oct. 30, 2022
Mam runs into the shop and tells the women behind the counter, I’m sorry.The woman says, Lord, he’s a dote.
From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
