spoon-fed
Americanadjective
-
fed with a spoon.
-
treated with excessive solicitude; pampered.
-
given no opportunity to act or think for oneself.
Having always been spoon-fed, I couldn't meet the challenge of college.
Etymology
Origin of spoon-fed
First recorded in 1900–05
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.
Surely, the viewer can put two and two together on their own to decipher a deeper meaning within the text without the message being spoon-fed to them.
From Salon • Aug. 8, 2025
Some of them have been feeding on spoon-fed pap by the rich and powerful for so long that — as A.J.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 8, 2025
Other images include Susan being spoon-fed by her young granddaughter and her lying on her bed having forgotten how to dress herself.
From BBC • Jan. 5, 2024
One of them, Shamim Salim, 26, was being spoon-fed soup by a well-wisher.
From Reuters • Apr. 26, 2023
She spoon-fed Minerva, who was now unresponsive, and rag-washed her face and hands before taking her into the bush to pee and then bundling her back up.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
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.
