mollycoddle

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noun mol·ly·cod·dle \ˈmä-lē-ˌkä-d^əl\

Definition of mollycoddle

: a pampered or effeminate man or boy

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Origin and Etymology of mollycoddle

Molly, nickname for Mary

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1833

See Words from the same year

mollycoddle

verb mol·ly·cod·dle

Definition of mollycoddle

mollycoddled

;

mollycoddling

\-ˌkäd-liŋ, -ˌkä-d^əl-iŋ\

transitive verb
: to treat with an excessive or absurd degree of indulgence and attention

mollycoddler

play \-ˌkäd-lər, -ˌkä-d^əl-ər\ noun

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Examples of mollycoddle in a Sentence

The coach has been mollycoddling the team's star players.
refused to mollycoddle her malingering son and sent him off to school

Did You Know?

Coddling eggs is delicate business. You need to cook them slowly and gently, keeping the water just below boiling. Given how carefully you need to treat the eggs, it's not surprising that coddle, the name for the cooking process, developed the figurative sense "to pamper." Mollycoddle was formed by combining coddle with molly, a nickname for Mary. In its earliest known uses in the 1830s, mollycoddle was a noun, a synonym of our modern wimp, but within 30 years it was being used as the verb you're likely to encounter now.

First Known Use of mollycoddle

1864

Synonym Discussion of mollycoddle

indulge, pamper, humor, spoil, baby, mollycoddle mean to show undue favor to a person's desires and feelings. indulge implies excessive compliance and weakness in gratifying another's or one's own desires. indulged myself with food at the slightest excuse pamper implies inordinate gratification of desire for luxury and comfort with consequent enervating effect. pampered by the amenities of modern living humor stresses a yielding to a person's moods or whims. humored him by letting him tell the story spoil stresses the injurious effects on character by indulging or pampering. foolish parents spoil their children baby suggests excessive care, attention, or solicitude. babying students by grading too easily mollycoddle suggests an excessive degree of care and attention to another's health or welfare. refused to mollycoddle her malingering son