Indulge

//ɪnˈdʌld͡ʒ// verb

verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To yield to a temptation or desire. intransitive, often

    "He looked at the chocolate but didn't indulge."

  2. 2
    yield (to); give satisfaction to wordnet
  3. 3
    To satisfy the wishes or whims of. transitive

    "Grandma indulges the kids with sweets."

  4. 4
    enjoy to excess wordnet
  5. 5
    To give way to (a habit or temptation); to not oppose or restrain.

    "to indulge sloth, pride, selfishness, or inclinations"

Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    give free rein to wordnet
  2. 7
    To grant an extension to the deadline of a payment.
  3. 8
    treat with excessive indulgence wordnet
  4. 9
    To grant as by favour; to bestow in concession, or in compliance with a wish or request.

    "persuading us that something must be indulged to public manners"

Synonyms

All synonyms
babycockercoddlecoddlecossetfeatherbed

Example

More examples

"As these days most parents indulge their children, many children don't know what good manners are."

Etymology

From Latin indulgeō (“I indulge”).

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