wet-nursing

verb

present participle of wet-nurse
1
as in nursing
to give milk to from the breast wet-nursed the woman's baby until she was well enough to do it herself

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in spoiling
to treat with great or excessive care recent college grads quickly learn that employers won't wet-nurse them the way that their teachers did

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for wet-nursing
  1. nursing
  2. spoiling
  3. indulging
Verb
  • Fiji's Selestino Ravutaumada was nursing the rolling ball when Adams reached between his legs and touched it down for a try.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 4 July 2026
  • The Americans, playing in front of a frenzied crowed on home soil in the San Francisco Bay Area, were down a man and nursing a 1-0 lead.
    — Chris Biderman, Sacbee.com, 2 July 2026
Definition of nursing
Verb
  • Without spoiling too much, Rick and Morty make a cameo in the pilot in a very meta scene.
    — Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 6 July 2026
  • At a certain point, the admiration for Paraguay’s underdog defiance and spoiling strategy gave way to exasperation.
    — Adam Crafton, New York Times, 5 July 2026
Definition of spoiling
Verb
  • On that note, resist the urge to bury discomfort by indulging, shopping or being stubbornly silent.
    — Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 8 July 2026
  • Will blamed Cal for the idea; Cal, Will for indulging it; both of them the other for not being the one dead.
    — Emily Ruskovich, The Atlantic, 7 July 2026
Definition of indulging
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

wet-nurses
wet-nursing
wets
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Wet-nursing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wet-nursing. Accessed 10 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

The Words of the Week - Jul 10
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
banana-mirrored
Contradictory Words Quiz Pick out which word means one thing…and the opp...
See All