handle with kid gloves

present singular third person handles with kid gloves · participle present handling with kid gloves · participle past handled with kid gloves · past handled with kid gloves

1. idiomaticTo treat (a person or a subject) very delicately or carefully, especially so as not to cause offense or controversy.

   The campaign staff cautioned the candidate to handle the issue with kid gloves.

   2 more examples

   He does not trifle with them, or handle them with kid gloves. No, he judges them to be the scum of the earth, and he treats them accordingly by putting them away.

   1884, C. H. Spurgeon, “Psalm One Hundred and Nineteen—Verses 113 to 120, Exposition”, in The Treasury of David: […], volume VI, London: Passmore and Alabaster, 4 paternoster Buildings, page 260

   [Richard] Ingrams has always enjoyed a reputation for insensitivity. As with other columnists in the British press, he treads on toes to make his point and rides roughshod over issues that others handle with kid gloves, or avoid altogether.

   2003 August 3, Stephen Pritchard, “Racist or just anti-Sharon?”, in The Guardian

   Synonyms: treat with kid gloves