Faddle

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To fiddle (play aimlessly).

    "I am afraid I must be at bottom, what a cheerful Indian critic has dubbed me, "a faddling hedonist" […]"

  2. 2
    To dote on. UK, dated

    "Even then, when nurse is ready to take baby out for a walk, properly wrapped up, faddling Mamma comes to examine, if not a little corner remains to be closed to the air."

Synonyms

All synonyms
canoodlecaresscoaxdallydawtfiddle

Example

More examples

"I am afraid I must be at bottom, what a cheerful Indian critic has dubbed me, "a faddling hedonist" […]"

Etymology

Compare fiddle, fiddle-faddle.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.