| English Dictionary |
INDULGENT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does indulgent mean?
• INDULGENT (adjective)
The adjective INDULGENT has 3 senses:
1. characterized by or given to yielding to the wishes of someone
2. tolerant or lenient
3. being favorably inclined
Familiarity information: INDULGENT used as an adjective is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Characterized by or given to yielding to the wishes of someone
Context example:
indulgent grandparents
Similar:
decadent (luxuriously self-indulgent)
betting; card-playing; dissipated; sporting (preoccupied with the pursuit of pleasure and especially games of chance)
epicurean; luxuriant; luxurious; sybaritic; voluptuary; voluptuous (displaying luxury and furnishing gratification to the senses)
gay (given to social pleasures often including dissipation)
epicurean; hedonic; hedonistic (devoted to pleasure)
hard; heavy; intemperate (given to excessive indulgence of bodily appetites especially for intoxicating liquors)
overindulgent (excessively indulgent)
pampering (gratifying tastes, appetites, or desires)
self-indulgent (indulgent of your own appetites and desires)
Also:
gluttonous (given to excess in consumption of especially food or drink)
Antonym:
nonindulgent (characterized by strictness, severity, or restraint)
Derivation:
indulgence (a disposition to yield to the wishes of someone)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Tolerant or lenient
Synonyms:
Context example:
they are soft on crime
Similar:
permissive (granting or inclined or able to grant permission; not strict in discipline)
Derivation:
indulgence (a disposition to yield to the wishes of someone)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Being favorably inclined
Context example:
an indulgent attitude
Similar:
favorable; favourable (encouraging or approving or pleasing)
Context examples
And with a relenting smile, he added, “I come home to be happy and indulgent.”
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
So I sought out a school conducted on a more indulgent system, and near enough to permit of my visiting her often, and bringing her home sometimes.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
He believed he was an indulgent father (as indeed he was), and I might spare myself any solicitude on her account.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
“Low, I am afraid, sir, very low,” answered his son;—“but we shall be indulgent—especially to any one who leads the way.”
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
From you, her mother, and so kind, so indulgent a mother, the question could not give offence.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Mrs. Thorpe is too indulgent beyond a doubt; but, however, you had better not interfere.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Then the master made me a sign to come to his trencher side; but as I walked on the table, being in great surprise all the time, as the indulgent reader will easily conceive and excuse, I happened to stumble against a crust, and fell flat on my face, but received no hurt.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
He seems to be a most conscientious and polite young man, upon my word, and I doubt not will prove a valuable acquaintance, especially if Lady Catherine should be so indulgent as to let him come to us again.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Little Teddy bore a charmed life, for nothing ever happened to him, and Jo never felt any anxiety when he was whisked up into a tree by one lad, galloped off on the back of another, or supplied with sour russets by his indulgent papa, who labored under the Germanic delusion that babies could digest anything, from pickled cabbage to buttons, nails, and their own small shoes.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
To her she was most injudiciously indulgent.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"When jobless, keep rattling the door." (Albanian proverb)
"A friend is the one that lends a hand during the time of need." (Arabic proverb)
"The one not dancing knows lots of songs." (Cypriot proverb)