mollycoddle
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
- mollycoddler noun
Etymology
Origin of mollycoddle
First recorded in 1825–35; Molly (a female name used in the sense “effeminate man”) + coddle
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 was also critical of what he called a culture of "hiding behind words like 'wellbeing'" and "mollycoddling" children.
From BBC
His passion for her grows to such a pitch that he starts bounding up stairs instead of crawling over them like a mollycoddled toddler.
From Los Angeles Times
For all the female agency on display, Barbie still has to placate and mollycoddle the insecure Ken.
From Salon
I went from my parents’ mollycoddled child to an adult that had to do their own laundry.
From The Verge
“I don’t think we can be mollycoddled to live in a bubble the whole time.”
From Washington Post
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.