fondle
Americanverb (used with object)
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fondles,
present (3rd person singular)
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fondled,
past participle, past
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fondling
present participle
verb (used without object)
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fondles,
present (3rd person singular)
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fondled,
past participle, past
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fondling
present participle
verb
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(tr) to touch or stroke tenderly; caress
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archaic (intr) to act in a loving manner
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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fondlesimple
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fondlessimple
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have fondledperfect
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has fondledperfect
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am fondlingprogressive
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are fondlingprogressive
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is fondlingprogressive
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have been fondlingperfect progressive
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has been fondlingperfect progressive
Past
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fondledsimple
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had fondledperfect
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was fondlingprogressive
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were fondlingprogressive
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had been fondlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fondle
First recorded in 1685–95; from obsolete verb fond “to play the fool, dote” (derivative of adjective fond ) + -le frequentative verb suffix; see origin at fond 1, -le
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.
See Examples For:
Mr. Wainwright’s version does fondle the trademark pipe, which suggests the original Maigret as well as a painting by Magritte.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2025
Like for nervous people, “fidget toys” — sensory objects to fondle — help ground you, Darragh says, gripping a clementine.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2023
As she paused to fondle a makeup brush, I heard the grip of her finger pads reluctant to give up the cellophane wrapper.
From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2019
If the joy of studying a masterpiece is, as Nabokov put it, “to fondle the details,” lingering inside the facsimile is unquestionably superior to being herded through the original tomb by a guide.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 20, 2016
Mammals characteristically nuzzle, fondle, hug, caress, pet, groom and love their young, behavior essentially unknown among the reptiles.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
In perhaps a glancing nod to Chekhov, Sidney fondles a metal-headed club called a mace in his collection and lightly asks what the use is of owning a mace “if you never use it?”
From New York Times ● Aug. 15, 2014
To distinguish his jaunty Banquo from Macbeth, Mr. Cumming fondles a red apple.
From New York Times ● Jul. 8, 2012
Maybe it's because of the remorseful way he fondles the dog's lifeless paws, or the pathetic manner in which Joseph hides out in a Christian charity shop.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 8, 2011
The barker in Texaco Star Theater continually fondles Texaco products, performs before a curtain picturing a Texaco gas station, and is supported by a close-harmony quartet wearing Texaco uniforms.
From Time Magazine Archive
She fondles a black cat, her familiar, and straddles a broomstick for a sky-ride when the wind is howling.”
From The Proud Prince by Justin H. (Justin Huntly) McCarthy
“It must be stressful to be touched and fondled by a bunch of strangers,” said Sachiko Azuma, head of Tokyo-based PEACE, which stands for Put an End to Animal Cruelty and Exploitation.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 29, 2024
“It’s touchless, it’s considered safe and it’s prepackaged so products haven’t been fondled and breathed on,” she said.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 12, 2021
“The label is essential,” Mr. Haslam said with a rasping cackle as he fondled a silver cigarette case he had gotten for Christmas.
From New York Times ● Jan. 7, 2020
Last Friday, Fonda, who turned eighty in December, was sitting in a publicity office, wearing mod-ish pants, a black turtleneck, and a chain necklace that she occasionally fondled.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 26, 2018
“Ah yes. This will help me feed my hungry family,” Uncle Abdullah said as he fondled the bills.
From "Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina" by Michaela DePrince
In movie after movie, Streep is constantly fidgeting with, fondling, removing or twirling her glasses.
From New York Times ● Jul. 14, 2022
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
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
Instead of accessing the quarter-life crisis through the exploits of a solitary protagonist bumbling and fondling his way up against the limitations society had set for him, this film focused on relationships.
From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2014
As the stone door closed behind him, Taran saw King Eiddileg fondling his head and beaming happily.
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
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.
