Kid-glove

adj, verb, slang

adj, verb, slang ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To treat mildly. idiomatic, informal, transitive

    "It is the policy of the politician to avoid trouble, to soft pedal on principle so that votes will not be lost. But, as day follows night, kid-gloving criminals leads to anarchy."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Marked by extreme care or sensitivity. not-comparable

    "kid-glove handling"

Adjective
  1. 1
    showing skill and sensitivity in dealing with people wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
tactfulwrist-slap

Example

More examples

"“Hell’s bells, no!” said the discreetly indiscreet Ambassador. “I’m a diplomat now. I've got to don kid glove manners.”"

Etymology

See kid glove.

More for "kid-glove"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

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