spoil

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Treating someone well
allowance
be spoilt for choiceidiom
coddle
cosset
do as you would be done byidiom
do someone proudidiom
mollycoddle
mother
non-exploitative
nurture
overindulge
pander to someone/something
proud
see someone rightidiom
smother
spoil
spoil someone rottenidiom
treat
wrap
wrap someone (up) in cotton woolidiom

indulge | American Dictionary

indulge
verb[ I/T ]
us/ɪnˈdʌldʒ/
to allow yourself or someone else to have something enjoyable:
[ I ]When I get my first paycheck I’m going to indulge in a shopping spree.
[ T ]He indulged his passion for skiing whenever he could.

indulgent

adjectiveus/ɪnˈdʌl·dʒənt/
He was indulgent to his grandchildren.

Examples of indulge

indulge
They reinvested in their trades and indulged in conspicuous consumption at home.
Alternative viewpoints, as in other areas of society, have to be indulged in as subtexts, understood by initiates while preserving the veneer of normality.
The purpose of this review, however, is not to indulge in speculation about the future.
Generally, members who have political connections, or are rich, indulge in such activities.
One may only be indulging in rhetoric, the false consolation of empty words that elevate.
For instance, a patient who demands fluoroquinolone antibiotics for a moderate case of watery diarrhea should not be indulged.
Combining physical examination of the nervous system with conversational exploration of the mind, psychiatrists have license to indulge in speculative hybrids of the two approaches.
It is idle to indulge in academical discussions as to the merits of this system.
Extensively researched and deftly argued, this study would be of interest to both academic parties and anyone who has occasionally indulged in retail therapy.
He is as active now as he ever was, albeit that his surgical schedule now leaves him more time to indulge his hobbies.
By indulging in lengthy visiting, both parties may be vulnerable on two counts.
There are also many examples where bureaucrats indulge in corruption in the absence of institutional accountability.
As with literary metaphor, the reader of an economics text is asked to indulge the author, to suspend disbelief and go along with the model.
Concealers who believe that their lies are morally less bad than those of falsifiers are indulging in self-deception.
Criminals are indulged as if they are sick, whereas the ill, the poor and the unfortunate are brutally punished.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.