dote
Americanverb (used without object)
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to bestow or express excessive love or fondness habitually (usually followed by on orupon ).
They dote on their youngest daughter.
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to show a decline of mental faculties, especially associated with old age.
noun
verb
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to love to an excessive or foolish degree
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to be foolish or weak-minded, esp as a result of old age
Other Word Forms
- doter noun
Etymology
Origin of dote
1175–1225; Middle English doten “to behave foolishly, become feeble-minded”; cognate with Middle Dutch doten
Explanation
Who doesn't love to have someone dote on them? If you dote on someone, you shower them with love and attention. Sounds like the life! Parents that dote on their children too much might find themselves in trouble down the road; all that unadulterated devotion is a surefire way to spoil your kid. The problem is that those who are doing the doting are often too smitten to see when the object of their affection is acting like a complete jerk. No wonder dote is related to a German word that means "to be foolish." That connection might also explain the use of dote to mean acting senile in one's later years.
Vocabulary lists containing dote
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Outside, their daughters, ranging from kindergarten to high school, dote on their dads, or fear forgetting them, or lash out in frustration at their absence.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 26, 2024
Actor-comedian Anthony Anderson is a proud mama’s boy and loves to dote on his mother, Doris.
From Washington Times • Jun. 23, 2023
As heartwarming as it is to see Andrés kiss and hug and dote on his daughters, the interactions are, literally, made for TV.
From Washington Post • Dec. 26, 2022
He handles all the boring life matters like bills for us and I dote on him.
From Slate • Dec. 2, 2022
It sounded to Polly that Mr. Derby admonished his wife almost as if he were speaking to a child, but he also seemed to dote on her.
From "Copper Sun" by Sharon M. Draper
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
