Word.ws English Dictionary

cosset

/ˈkɒsɪt/US/ˈkɑsɪt/

cosset verb: to treat like a pet; to overly indulge. Also the alternative form of cossid.

cosset: to treat like a pet; to overly indulge
Image: Rudolf Epp, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

cosset (third-person singular simple present cossets, present participle cosseting or cossetting, simple past and past participle cosseted or cossetted)

  1. (transitive) To treat like a pet; to overly indulge.
    • The car cossets its occupants in comfort.
    Synonyms:
    coddle
  2. (transitive) To fondle; to touch or stroke lovingly.
    • The foam cossets your skin.
    Synonyms:
    caress
  3. (figuratively, transitive) To benefit; to make life easy for.
    • An independent oversight body is just setting up, but at full strength it will have a core team of just five. This is a state of affairs that cossets and enriches bailiffs at the expense of families who’ve fallen into debt.2023 August 17, Aditya Chakrabortty, “Can’t pay and they really do take it away: what happens when the bailiffs come knocking”, in The Guardian

Noun

cosset (plural cossets)

  1. A pet, usually a pet lamb.
  2. Someone indulged or cosseted.

Also used as

cosset is also the alternative form of cossid.

Synonyms of cosset

Forms of cosset

Verb
third-person singular presentcossets
present participlecosseting
present participlecossetting
past participlecosseted
pastcosseted
past participlecossetted
pastcossetted
Noun
pluralcossets

Origin of cosset

Perhaps from Middle English cotsete, from Old English cotsǣta (“cottager”), from cot (“cottage”) (Modern English cot (“cottage”) (archaic)) + -sǣta (“-sitter”); compare coscet. Compare German Hauslamm (literally “house lamb”), Italian casiccio.

Words formed from cosset

Words that rhyme with cosset

Questions about cosset

What does cosset mean?
Cosset means to treat like a pet; to overly indulge.
What part of speech is cosset?
Cosset can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce cosset?
Cosset is pronounced /ˈkɒsɪt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of cosset?
The past tense of cosset is cosseted.

Words near cosset in the dictionary

  1. Cossaeans
  2. Cossaei
  3. cossaes
  4. Cossall
  5. cosses
  6. cosset
  7. cosseted
  8. cosseter
  9. cosseters
  10. cosseting
  11. cossetings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cosset (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cosset.wav.

Cite this entry: “cosset.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cosset. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.