spoil someone rotten

verb

To overindulge someone, especially when it results in making them selfish and demanding.

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Meanings

verbspoil someone rotten (third-person singular simple present spoils someone rotten, present participle spoiling someone rotten, simple past and past participle spoiled someone rotten or spoilt someone rotten)

present singular third person spoils someone rotten · participle present spoiling someone rotten · participle past spoiled someone rotten · past spoiled someone rotten · participle past spoilt someone rotten · past spoilt someone rotten · alternative spoil somebody rotten

  1. idiomaticTo overindulge someone, especially when it results in making them selfish and demanding.

    Naylonfred had spoiled them rotten, making them selfish and demanding.

    2013, Jack Camarda, Corruptus Politicus, →ISBN
    1 more example

    She spoiled him rotten and introduced him to a life that wasn't really good for him.

    2015, Vernal Lind, Beyond Tomorrow, →ISBN

Translations

Spanish tener en palmitas
  • tener en palmitasto overindulge someone
Cite this entry
APA

spoil someone rotten. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spoil%20someone%20rotten

MLA

“spoil someone rotten.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spoil%20someone%20rotten. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “spoil someone rotten,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spoil%20someone%20rotten.

Source: spoil someone rotten on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.