indulgently
Americanadverb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Explanation
When you do something in an overly generous or permissive way, you do it indulgently. If your grandparents spoil you, they treat you indulgently. You can say you eat indulgently when you dine on luxurious food and take a long time to finish your meal — you're giving yourself permission to feast. Likewise, a babysitter treats a child indulgently when he lets her stay up way past her bedtime. This adverb comes from the noun indulgence. with its variations in meaning: "kindness," "gratification of another's desire," and "yielding to one's own inclinations."
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.
Monahon, whose impressive list of works includes “The Good John Proctor,” is free-associating a bit too indulgently on the topics of eating and pleasure.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026
To cook — well, thoughtfully, indulgently — is to assert that pleasure still matters.
From Salon • May 12, 2025
Picture a moist cake with the perfect hint of chocolate, indulgently soaking up a delicate honey orange syrup.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 5, 2023
Alongside three large dogs continually changing their mind about where to nap, the two talked over each other, and indulgently allowed themselves to be interrupted, as they hashed out their maturing relationship.
From New York Times • Aug. 20, 2021
Kvothe leaned his elbows on the bar and smiled indulgently.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
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.
