Mother-hen

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To behave in an overprotective or extremely nurturing manner (towards). intransitive, transitive

    "Concerned for Diane's well-being, he mother-henned her constantly."

Synonyms

All synonyms
hen

Example

More examples

"Concerned for Diane's well-being, he mother-henned her constantly."

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