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This mollycoddled outdated practices, like harvesting by hand.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This mollycoddled outdated practices, like harvesting by hand.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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The Wildcats spoiled the Nittany Lions' homecoming game, outscoring them 9-7 in the fourth quarter to just squeak out the win.—
Ben Verbrugge,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 Oct. 2025
-
The North Carolina Courage spoiled Bay FC’s last home game of the season Friday night as Manaka Matsukubo’s hat trick led to a resounding 4-1 win, matching the most lopsided home loss in Bay’s two-year history.—
Jon Becker,
Mercury News,
18 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Their sons were 13 months and 1 month old at the time, and Federline asked her not to go home and nurse them.—
Martha Ross,
Mercury News,
16 Oct. 2025
-
These migrants became figures left in a historical stasis, unable to face their present while nursing traumatic loss (their nostalgic literature constitutes an entire genre).—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
15 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
The other people Ye tries to big-foot into indulging his perverse Peter Pan complex fare more poorly.—
Derek Robertson,
The Washington Examiner,
10 Oct. 2025
-
Whether that’s indulging Wes Anderson’s imagination (as a three-time member of his ever-growing ensemble) or producing her own projects, Johansson always manages to surprise.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
9 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The wrecking-ball style is the way King played even at Longview (Texas) High, where his father was the coach, and didn’t coddle or protect his son, as Dickey remembers.—
Seth Emerson,
New York Times,
8 Oct. 2025
-
Campbell has accused the SCORE Act of disadvantaging these groups while coddling the NCAA.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
7 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Outside the woods the whole world babied her.—
Hazlitt,
Hazlitt,
8 Oct. 2025
-
Jean’s mama reproached her for not having been more careful and babied Wole, ordering him to remove his T-shirt and retrieving an aloe lotion, telling him to stretch out on the couch and instructing Jean to spread it over the tender areas.—
David Wright Faladé,
New Yorker,
28 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Your favorite party dip meets stovetop chicken and rice in this creamy, cheesy dish that will please the whole family.—
Elizabeth Nelson,
Southern Living,
17 Oct. 2025
-
Gone is the sense that Maggie is desperate to please Alma; so too is Alma’s interest in supporting Maggie.—
Barry Levitt,
Time,
17 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Do something to pamper yourself.—
Georgia Nicols,
Denver Post,
12 Oct. 2025
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Get pampered at Enchantment Resort Sedona has no shortage of spa and wellness resorts, and one of the most acclaimed of these spots is in Boynton Canyon, one of the city's four major vortexes.—
Paige Moore,
AZCentral.com,
11 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mollycoddle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mollycoddle. Accessed 22 Oct. 2025.
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