Meaning & use
coddler
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A small container, often with a lid, used to cook eggs gently in hot water.
Grammar: Countable; usually appears in the plural when talking about a set.
Patterns
- an egg coddler
- a porcelain coddler
- cook eggs in a coddler
She buttered the inside of the coddler before cracking in the egg.
These porcelain coddlers make it easy to serve soft-cooked eggs without a saucepan.
He bought a set of four coddlers at the kitchen shop.
nouncountabledisapproving
A person who treats someone with too much care and protection, preventing them from becoming independent.
Grammar: Countable; often used with 'over-', as in 'an over-coddler'.
Patterns
- a coddler of someone
- an over-coddler
His mother was a coddler who never let him do anything for himself.
Critics called the coach a coddler for protecting his star player from all criticism.
She worried that she was becoming a coddler rather than a supportive parent.
Word forms
| plural | coddlers |
|---|
Common combinations
- egg coddler
- An egg coddler lets you cook one or two eggs at a time.
- porcelain coddler
- The porcelain coddler was decorated with little blue flowers.
- a coddler of children
- She was known as a coddler of children, always wrapping them up too warmly.
- an over-coddler
- Teachers sometimes see parents as over-coddlers who do their children's homework.
Synonyms and how they differ
- egg poacher
- An egg poacher cooks eggs in steam or water but produces a different shape and texture; a coddler is a specific small lidded pot.
- mollycoddler
- Mollycoddler means a person who spoils someone with too much care; it is stronger and more old-fashioned than 'coddler'.
Word family
- coddle verb
- To cook eggs gently in water, or to treat someone with too much care.
- mollycoddle verb
- To protect and indulge someone excessively.
Commonly confused: coddler or coddle?
coddler vs coddle
Coddle is the verb meaning to cook or pamper; a coddler is either the pot or the person who does it.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'coddler' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Option 1 fits because a coddler can be a person who overprotects someone. Option 0 confuses it with a general cooking pot, option 2 treats it as an appliance with a temperature, and option 3 uses it as a verb instead of the noun 'coddle'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “coddler”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.