spoonfeed
Definition
- Verb:
- To teach or present information in an excessively simplified or easy manner, depriving the learner of the need for independent thought or effort: This meaning emphasizes providing knowledge in a way that requires no intellectual challenge or active engagement from the recipient.
- To feed someone using a spoon: The literal meaning refers to the act of giving food to a person, typically a child or someone unable to feed themselves, by using a spoon.
Usage Examples
Verb (Figurative - Teaching): The online tutorial doesn't just spoonfeed answers; it encourages problem-solving. Some educational apps risk spoonfeeding information rather than fostering critical thinking.
Verb (Literal - Feeding): The nurse had to spoonfeed the patient after his surgery. She gently spoonfed the baby his first taste of cereal.
Advanced Usage
- "to spoonfeed someone something": To provide information or material to someone in an overly simplistic or ready-made way.
- Used critically to describe media, marketing, or propaganda that presents complex issues in an overly simplistic, non-questioning manner.
Variants and Related Words
- Spoon-feeding (noun): The act or process of teaching or treating someone in a spoonfeed manner.
- Spoon-fed (adjective): Having been taught or treated in this overly simplistic way.
Synonyms
- Pamper (in the context of over-indulging, not challenging).
- Coddle.
- Baby (verb).
- Hand-hold (informal).
Related Phrasal Verbs
(This word does not commonly form phrasal verbs. Its meaning is contained within the single verb form.)
Related Idioms
- To lead someone by the hand: Similar in meaning to the figurative use, implying excessive guidance.
- To chew someone's food for them: An idiom with a very similar critical meaning, suggesting doing all the difficult mental work for someone else.
Verb
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teach without challenging the students
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This professor spoonfeeds his students
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feed with a spoon
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