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coddle

[kod-l] / ˈkɒd l /


VERB
boil lightly, usually eggs
Synonyms
Antonyms


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.

See Examples For:

I just think one of the cruelest things you can do is to coddle your child in a false reality versus helping them figure out the real reality.

From The Wall Street Journal May 29, 2026

Does Prada want to coddle you in an unravelling world?

From Barron's Feb. 26, 2026

But when things are rough, we don’t have to coddle each other.

From Slate Sep. 29, 2025

In a post on X, he added: "My job is to advance America's national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism."

From BBC Feb. 20, 2025

I rapped out, thinking, You can't coddle these sick people, it's the worst thing for them, it'll spoil them to bits.

From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath

A ballroom dancer who coddles his pet rats—Fred and Ginger—Declan rides a moped that his colleague, Sara Xiu, describes as “that pitiful hair-dryer on wheels.”

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 13, 2026

In Zimmerman’s final pick, Rose’s mother visits and friction ensues when Rose coddles her too much.

From Los Angeles Times Sep. 11, 2025

In an interview with USA Today, Montana spoke on the lack of mental preparation that QB’s are entering the League with — suggesting contemporary college football’s coaching as a system that coddles its play-callers.

From Fox News Oct. 8, 2021

That year, Bryan Curtis used the incident as the central hook for a Grantland feature about how the Thunder organization coddles and shields its players from the media.

From Slate Apr. 20, 2019

“Shall we have a look at that horse then? I doubt it’s anything serious. Marlena coddles them terribly. Oh, here’s the little lady now. Come here, darling,” he calls brightly.

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

“The idea that our kids are somehow more coddled is simply not true,” Peterson said.

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 11, 2026

Better equipped to mother Boy No. 2 or stricken with learned helplessness from being coddled by an expert on my phone day in and day out?

From Slate May 10, 2026

Dunk points out that his other two coddled sons, failures both, never lacked comfort.

From Salon Feb. 23, 2026

The sauce, sweet from simmered-until-tender broccoli and savory with loads of garlic and anchovy, tastes lovingly coddled, like you cooked that broccoli forever.

From Seattle Times Mar. 31, 2024

“You’ve never even been to a city, David. You have no idea how coddled they are. They spend their whole lives in a bubble.”

From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld

Indeed, Secretary Warfighter’s need for constant coddling is being ever more severely exposed as this scandal unfolds.

From Salon Dec. 3, 2025

The final stretch requires more coddling and, of course, cost.

From The Wall Street Journal Nov. 10, 2025

Next season, while the Lakers are on vacation, are we going to see Austin Reaves in the playoffs wearing another team’s uniform because the Lakers traded him while coddling an aged star?

From Los Angeles Times May 31, 2025

The hosts of the summit treated the university, battered by accusations of coddling antisemitism, as a business-school case study on leadership in higher education, complete with a slide presentation on its plummeting reputation.

From New York Times Feb. 20, 2024

He hath been sold at eight from his mother's side, and now must daily watch another boy enjoy coddling, plaudits, and idleness.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson




Vocabulary lists containing coddle


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