fondling
Americannoun
-
the act of caressing or touching lovingly or tenderly.
A few of us knitting enthusiasts met yesterday at Yarn Barn for a couple of hours of browsing, yarn fondling, and coffee.
-
the act of molesting someone sexually by touching or caressing.
The inappropriate groping and fondling from a trusted adult male figure—her mother’s boyfriend—traumatized her.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fondling
First recorded in 1580–90; fondl(e) ( def. ) + -ing 1 ( def. ) for the noun senses; fondl(e) ( def. ) + -ing 2 ( def. ) for the adjective sense
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.
The hypocrisy is rank enough; in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, the comic-turned-moralizer yells, presumably at the Black parents he disapproves of, “Believe a child when she says somebody’s fondling her!”
From Washington Post ● Jan. 30, 2022
Those who worried she couldn’t top 2017’s icy wonderland of lifeless foliage can breathe easily now that we’ve been graced with the image of Trump fondling ornaments with arms characteristically unmoored from her sleeves:
From Slate ● Nov. 26, 2018
Ivory doesn't have much success in filling in the elisions, but Guadagnino's direction compounds the superficiality with camerawork that can't resist fondling every surface it encounters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2018
“I was mired in envy,” Ozick told me, nervously fondling a napkin and smoothing and resmoothing the checkered burgundy tablecloth.
From New York Times ● Jun. 23, 2016
Then I would bring out the rice, and measure it, and run the grain through my fingers for sheer love of it, fondling it like a simpleton.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
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.
