as in to spoil
to treat with great or excessive care
refused to mollycoddle her malingering son and sent him off to school
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Recent Examples of mollycoddle
You’re not mollycoddled during the week and are expected to act as any professional crew member would.
—
Helen Iatrou, Robb Report, 14 Sep. 2023
So football generally, and pro football specifically, helped reassure the country that American men were not mollycoddled softies.
—James Surowiecki, New York Times, 19 Dec. 2019
Koenig may have supported Bernie Sanders in 2016, but Sanders’s mollycoddling platform never approaches the real-life perplexities that Koenig — a pop poet — sings about.
—Armond White, National Review, 10 Dec. 2019
Her poise is the result of a loving yet punctilious upbringing by parents determined that their fame and its accompanying perks were not going to mollycoddle their two children.
—Michael Callahan, Town & Country, 1 Aug. 2018
Both sides are mollycoddling their own predicaments with this talk.
—Chad Pergram, Fox News, 15 Mar. 2018
This mollycoddled outdated practices, like harvesting by hand.
—The Economist, 14 Dec. 2017
Helen Iatrou, Robb Report, 14 Sep. 2023
So football generally, and pro football specifically, helped reassure the country that American men were not mollycoddled softies.
—James Surowiecki, New York Times, 19 Dec. 2019
Koenig may have supported Bernie Sanders in 2016, but Sanders’s mollycoddling platform never approaches the real-life perplexities that Koenig — a pop poet — sings about.
—Armond White, National Review, 10 Dec. 2019
Her poise is the result of a loving yet punctilious upbringing by parents determined that their fame and its accompanying perks were not going to mollycoddle their two children.
—Michael Callahan, Town & Country, 1 Aug. 2018
Both sides are mollycoddling their own predicaments with this talk.
—Chad Pergram, Fox News, 15 Mar. 2018
This mollycoddled outdated practices, like harvesting by hand.
—The Economist, 14 Dec. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mollycoddle
Verb
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Dodge won't spoil the surprise by confirming if the last one will be based on the Charger or the Challenger (or maybe both), but the evidence suggests the latter is more likely.—
Jack Fitzgerald,
Car and Driver,
13 Feb. 2023
-
Farmers’ broiler chickens suffocate, and dairy products spoil.—
Monica Mark,
The Christian Science Monitor,
10 Feb. 2023
Verb
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Jackson nursed him back to health by covering his feet with a medicated balm and became acutely aware of the need to protect her pets from the hot summer sun and heatwaves.—
Jen Reeder,
Forbes.com,
14 July 2025
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The University of Minnesota’s equine intensive care unit nursed him back from his pneumonia and wounds.—
Mark Vancleave,
Twin Cities,
30 June 2025
Verb
-
Some adults want their children to develop AI literacy; others see chatbots as a way to indulge young kids’ endless curiosities or engage their creativity.—
Lila Shroff,
The Atlantic,
14 July 2025
-
Trump previously appeared to indulge an antisemitic trope of Jewish people controlling things behind the scenes.—
Rebecca Schneid,
Time,
5 July 2025
Verb
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Antisemitic rhetoric, and even violence, sometimes masked as anti-Israel bile, must be combatted, not coddled.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
20 June 2025
-
Employees become more resilient and engaged when pushed to grow, not shielded and coddled from struggle.—
Julian Hayes II,
Forbes.com,
27 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Be babied by him with back rubs, head scratches and order fast food for dinner.—
Emily St. Martin,
Oc Register,
9 May 2025
-
But Vance thinks the real problem is that people just aren’t babying hard enough.—
Rachel Marsden,
Hartford Courant,
8 May 2025
Verb
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Too eager to please and be manipulated, essentially.—
Hadas Gold,
CNN Money,
15 July 2025
-
The models keep getting bigger, the marketing keeps promising more, but a fundamental mismatch remains: a system trained to please can't deliver the reality check that therapy sometimes demands.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
11 July 2025
Verb
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British Vogue Acting Beauty Director Lauren Murdoch Smith is here to walk you through all her holiday beauty essentials—and to share the in-flight pampering rituals Vogue editors love to do at 30,000 feet!—
Vogue,
Vogue,
10 June 2025
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After weeks of pampering, watering, and staking, dahlia flowers begin to emerge in summer.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
10 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mollycoddle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mollycoddle. Accessed 21 Jul. 2025.
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